I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with this one, but the premise sounded intriguing! It was an ok read for me, with parts that I loved and other parts that I found slow and tedious to get through. What I did like was the connection Maeve had with her grandmother, her love for the culture of LA, obsession with all things Halloween, and her control over “the wolf”. I think most people will probably find this story very unique and enjoyable, just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

TW: sexual assault, sexism, animal death, bullying, gory scenes, language, drinking, sex workers, scat, urolagnia, domestic abuse, violence, dying family member, racism, classism, rape

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess. By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet. Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife
Release Date:
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Oh that cover

What I Didn't Like:
1. Starts to feel like an obsession to Story of the Eye
2. Not what it advertised for
3. Not like every girl vibes
4. Maeve
5. 50 mentions of Halloween
6. 37 uses of wolf/14 uses of wolves

Overall Thoughts:
My kind of debauchery soils not only my body and my thoughts, but also . . . the vast starry universe, which merely serves as a backdrop. —GEORGES BATAILLE, STORY OF THE EYE
A quote from the Story of the Eye, a book I hated and was totally messed up 👀.

Is it weird that shortly before reading this book I had acquired Story of the Eye from the library, read it, and hated it. This book feels like one huge obsession of that book so much so that it reads to me like a school report from some teenagers excitement of stumbling onto this book and now it's their whole identity.

This book tries to be over the top extreme but is more dialog than actual shocking things. Yeah, some stuff happen - she poops and pees into a man's mouth but that just seems so random. Even the death scenes are off screen and we just back up with after she's committed the crime and cleaning up. There's another scene where Maeve is threatening to use a curling iron on a girl and turn it on but then that fizzes out and it doesn't happen. What a let down.

It just feels like there are times when the author takes us to the edge of the cliff only to push us back before we fall off. Take us for a leap dear author and don't hold yourself back.

I hated all the characters. Pretentious annoying young people with a main character that thinks she's one of a kind special. Manic pixie girl.

Final Thoughts:
Something is just missing from this book for me. It feels like you're going to get more but like I said before the author holds back. The sex is tame.

I hated Maeve. Maeve is painted as this hardcore woman but she tries way too hard to be cool, weird, and edgy. She causes her own terrible life and then acts bitter against others blaming them for all her stuff. She's not cool. She's annoying. She's the most LA self centered character. She is one of those basic girls that obsessed with Halloween in August. Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in July. So yay to the author that for getting that down.

This book tries so hard to be other books. It reminds me of when you hang out with a girl whose parents don't pay attention to her so she's out to get attention doing all the bad stuff but the bad stuff is just surface level bad.

I think this is a good first start for the author.

The book just takes this weird turn away from what the book says it's about. It paints itself as this story about a Disney princess type that is moonlighting as a killer.

Ends in some kind of Psycho Norman Bates being told what to do through her grandmother. Is any part of this book original?

Recommend For:
• American psycho
• Story of the Eye
• Manic pixie girl lovers

This book was completely unexpected and darkly magnificent. The plot and intricacies of the mind and surroundings are deftly handled and brutally explored. The twists were successful not because of shock value of the reveal but because of what wasn’t there; the subtlety of an unexplored avenue and the absence of the expected. This somewhat gory, very graphic and sometimes horrific tale is truly fantastic. I can’t wait to read what the author comes up with next!

Brilliant. A very strange, unsettling, and horrifying read that has just the right amount of quirkiness.

Maeve is a princess in a theme park. Think an ice queen and mouse ears. She loves her job. Her best friend Kate is an aspiring actress, and just as Kate lands the role of a lifetime, her brother Gideon moves to town and takes an immediate interest in Maeve.

Maeve has some odd quirks, and she knows she is different. Living by the rules from different edgy books that speak to her inner and real self, about how to be an outlier. Her grandmother, a once famous starlet, showed her how to get through life by observing and hiding her inner demons, but too soon, she went into a coma.

All of these things culminate and come crashing into Maeve just as she loses her job, and in a way, this allows her to let out what most don't see her true nature.

This has so many levels.... distrust, loneliness, that Hollywood vibe bordering on what's real and what's not. And then comes the gore!

I really loved this. I loved the whole construction of this story, the buildup making the ending even more impacting. I think this belongs on the same shelf as American Psycho and Fight Club.

Out June 6, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Content warning for blood, gore, and body horror.

Maeve Fly accomplished exactly what it sets out to do. It is disturbing, horrible, and thought-provoking - a true train wreck that I couldn't put down. What Maeve Fly might lack in plot or character development it makes up for in atmosphere. We are in LA, it's Halloween, we're visiting the "happiest place on Earth" theme park, and we are seeing everything through the eyes of our deeply unhinged main character. It turns the serial killer stereotype around, gives it a princess dress, and explores what's going on inside the monster. It's Chuck Palahniuk meets Disney Princess meets the goriest horror movie you've ever seen. Overall I enjoyed the pacing and writing. There is one plot hole that is bothering me and a few instances where I questioned whether the story felt "believable." At some points, it seemed a little extreme just to prove a point, but the story is extreme by design and you don't want to believe anything in this story could be believable - that's kind of the nature of horror!

Give it a try if: you love graphic gory horror, you want a creepy Halloween read that doesn't hold back, or you are looking for a novel that explores the dark side of LA and Disney.
Skip it if: you are disturbed by graphic descriptions of body gore/horror, SA, murder, torture, or drugs.
If you are looking for a book with any diversity.

would recommend to a friend with extreme caution

I did not enjoy this book very much. I almost did not finish it, but I made myself keep reading until the end. I thought based on the cover in the synopsis, I would enjoy it, but I guess it was not the book for me.

I didn't really enjoy this. I definitely thought there were interesting moments, but it felt like so much of this book explored this weird....sort of Disney adult mentality, within a character that thinks they're somehow better than everyone around them and does things without any sort of consequence. I almost felt like this book was a satirical commentary but...I'm not sure if it is, because I never got a very definitive feeling one way or the other.
I was just not a fan of the sexual content or the many types of violence, though I thought the commentary and exploration of feminine rage was really interesting. This book was sort of a car crash that I couldn't look away from. Did I read this quickly? Yes. Was I pretty engaged throughout even though I wasn't a fan of the content? Yes. Did I like the book? No...? I don't know. I wanted to know what happened next/finish the story, but I didn't necessarily enjoy it.

I don't know what else to say about this other than WOW.

What a delightfully disturbing novel. The main character was well fleshed out, with quite a demented and skewed view on society. I appreciated the character development and time spent during the first 20% of the book that took me on a journey through Maeve's unhinged mind. I can see where some may be less inclined to read this due to how much time is spent simply getting to the action. In in my opinion, this look into Maeve's convoluted views of society were the best parts of the story.

I am no stranger to violence and splatterpunk stories. I appreciate that Leede did not write the most intense parts in an overly fetishized way, nor did she necessarily make it the main focus of the story. I can't wait to see what Leede has in store for us next.

4/5 stars.
Huge thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel.

I cannot tell if this book is satire or not. I desperately hope that it is supposed to be, but unfortunately I can’t tell.
Either way, this book is effectively just American Psycho if our main character was an insufferable, hypersexual Disney adult millennial with a superiority complex and way too much money and no consequences for anything she does. I have a lot of other opinions on this book, but they mainly involve spoilers, so I would prefer not to share them yet.
Something very important is to check content warnings, because this book contains a lot of violence of every single type that exists under the sun that can happen to white rich people in Los Angeles. Lots of torture, lots of equally painful sexual content. The book itself, and our main character markets this under the idea of feminine rage, but personally I believe this goes a bit beyond it.
However, I was practically glued to the screen that I read the book on the entire time. I can truly only describe the way I felt like staring at roadkill on the side of the highway as a child, because it may have been disgusting, but I could not look away, I wanted to know what would happen next. Despite that, I don't think I can rate this book much higher than I did

Wow, Maeve Fly! I base my opinions of books on two questions: did it shock me and will I think about this book for years to come? Check and Check!! This was an amazingly, disturbing, wonderful book of horror that shocked me in a good way. I wasn't able to guess the ending. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. It caused me to cringe, yet pulled at my heart strings. Maeve is such a complex character. I hope we will get to join Maeve in other books.

Maeve is living her best life as the granddaughter of a Hollywood icon. She works as a theme park fairytale princess with her bestie Kate, an aspiring actress. Kate’s big brother, a hockey-playing hottie comes to town just as Maeve’s magical castle world begins to crumble.

MAEVE FLY is one heck of a wild ride, living up to its cool and chaotic cover. While Maeve is a wild card, even her boldest actions are well-modified and make sense for her character.

I adored how her affinity for Halloween, the Los Angeles setting, and her job played out perfectly in the plot. The various cats, the eyeball references, and Maeve’s reading material complemented the wonderful world, providing plenty of opportunities for dark humor. Maeve’s reverence for her comatose grandmother is heartbreaking.

While the story provided a supremely satisfying ending, I found myself craving more of Maeve’s murderous audacity. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a sequel.

For me, MAEVE FLY was a four and a half star read, rounded up to five.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

A shocking slice of life story following a truly horrific human being. Disturbing and intriguing Maeve Fly will keep you guessing about what Maeve might do next. This gruesome story is not for the fainthearted. CJ Leede has surprised me and I look forward to seeing what else they bring us.

Thank you to Tornightfire and CJ Leede for the ARC of Maeve Fly.

This is in my top favorite reads of the year. Maeve Fly is the granddaughter to the Tallulah Fly, an once actress and hollywood royalty. By day Maeve is working as a Disney princess alongside her best friend Kate, but by night she gives into her disturbing desires.

Then he world is tipped upside down by a series of events that sets the one thing in Maeve she has been taught her entire life to hide.

With the setting of LA during the weeks before Halloween, this novel is deeply disturbing, entertaining and entirely jaw dropping by the end. Highly recommend

4.5/5 rounded up!

"There are no spoilers in life. If you are observant and pragmatic, the endings of all things are easily predictable. In the most basic terms, human life is always punctuated with death. It does not cheapen the buildup to know it. There are many winding paths to an inevitable end, and there is so much beauty and pain in the watching."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

When I say this book took me by storm, I mean it quite literally. I am still dipping my toes into the horror genre and this is the very first "extreme horror" novel I have read. I have been trying to expand my horizons and decided that a rare thunderstorm was the perfect setting to begin reading Maeve Fly.

I have been in quite the reading slump lately and I found myself flying through this book.

The Hollywood setting, the cleverly referenced Disney princesses, the moody characters and atmospheres, all tied up with a horrifying and tragic love story... it was brilliant! I often felt that I needed to connect with characters to connect with a book. While I (thankfully) do not connect with Maeve, CJ Leede does such a fantastic job at making you FEEL connected to her story and struggles of being just a bit different and ill-suited to the world around her. So much so, in fact, that when she finally flips her switch, you're kind of rooting for her.

My one, very minor, gripe is that I wish we got even more of Gideon and Maeve because there seemed to be more there than the reader got to fully witness.

As this is extreme horror, please note that there are a lot of graphic and disturbing scenes, so please tread lightly if that may be upsetting for you.

"I have never understood, and still do not understand the notion that a woman must first endure a victimhood of some sort— abandonment, abuse, oppression of the patriarchy— to be monstrous."

Maeve Fly is a difficult one to rate. It’s so much more than just a horror novel. There is definitely horror. And some romance. And some loneliness. And then overarching is a tad weird and disturbing, but that’s what we like, right? I had a fun time with this one. You get nods to other novels / horror characters. There is a bit of a lull near the beginning where you question what exactly is happening or when the fun will start. But when it really gets going, you’re in for a twisted little ride. I can’t say it’s entirely original as I feel like I’ve heard similar tales, but it’s got its own spin and worth the read. Thank you Net Galley & Tor Publishing for the chance to read and review

Be forewarned, this book is graphic: there are many scenes (often fairly long in length) of torture and sexual content. This is blurring the line between a traditional horror novel and splatterpunk.
No one in the novel is a likeable character, and I am definitely okay with that. I was very drawn into this story of Maeve, a Hollywood Legacy, and how she gets away with very devious behavior. No one around Maeve really seems to be a good person either, from the romantic interest to her BFF. We end up just seeing the bad in them, which is maybe why they work so well together.
Something did feel a bit off with the pacing, with the ending especially seeming a bit rushed. However I am not sure whether a novel much longer than its current length would have worked for the content.

Set in a modern LA wasteland, 20-something year old Maeve Fly loses everything she loves- her best friend, her Disneyland job, and her dear grandmother. The more Maeve loses, the more detached from reality she becomes, and the closer to madness she creeps. Maeve is horrifying and beautiful, vindicated and remorseless, and completely fucking unhinged. Maeve Fly juxtaposes the beauty and class of old Hollywood glamour with the horror of girl-inflicted gore. Maeve gives millennial anti-heroine vigilante energy and I’m here for it.

Maeve Fly is one of my favorite books so far this year and definitely and all-time favorite! This is a story of love and loss sprinkled with pure insanity. The storyline’s a trip, details are gruesome and gross, yet easy to read. In fact, I was enthralled. The characters are all pretty interesting in their own respects and I either hated or loved them all. I’ve seen this described as “extreme horror”, but I wouldn’t go that far. I think the level of violence and gore is appropriate for a horror novel. I love the combo of LA/Hollywood/Halloween/slasher themes mixed with modern Disney princess references. The music references are cool too. I think this would more specifically suit people familiar with modern pop-culture, specifically dark pop-culture. If you like Halloween and Bikini Kill, you’ll love this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Why should women have to have trauma in order to be evil? Why do women have to have some sort of character arc to make them monsters? Men are able to just be evil. To get away with hurting women and not have to worry about a backstory. Maeve Fly ponders this as she descends into madness.

I am not quite sure what to rate this book because it had an impact on me I’m not sure of yet. I recently read American Psycho back in October. The major themes of the book are still fresh in my mind. Maeve has been compared to the woman counterpart of Patrick Bateman and I can see why. Not only does she get inspiration from Bateman’s story in the second half of the book, we can see her slowly crack under her persona like Bateman did.

Maeve Fly works at the happiest place on Earth. She dresses up as an ice queen that everyone knows and loves with her best friend Kate as her costumed sister. Kate dreams of getting a part in a major motion picture and settles on the theme park until she can make her big break. One day, Kate’s rich hockey player brother moves to town and something in Maeve is finally able to come to life. The wolf her grandmother told her to keep chained away is broken free. Her grandmother is Talulah Fly, an old Hollywood actress who has shown Maeve how to keep the dark parts of herself hidden from the world.

I will say while the torture was graphic, it wasn’t as shocking as American Psycho. Maeve even gets inspiration from *ahem* THAT scene in the book, but it still wasn’t the same. Isn’t it interesting how Maeve felt troubled to me while Patrick Bateman just felt psychotic? Neither have backstory or reason, yet the circumstances still feel different.

I love a good female rage story. Getting revenge on those who’ve wronged them. The end had me a little sad for some reason. My brain wanted to feel sad for Maeve even though she doesn’t deserve it, right? It’s a complicated set of emotions the author throws at us. I applaud this being a debut book. More like this can come out and I will devour them all without question.

(I will not however, forgive for the eggs. That made me cringe but I loved how uncomfortable and awkward it felt)

Meet Maeve Fly. By day, she works as the beloved ice princess at a popular Los Angeles theme park. By night, she lives with her bedridden grandmother, a former Hollywood starlet, listens to Halloween music, and indulges in her love of depraved literature. The story follows Maeve from this point of stasis in her life, as she begins to acknowledge and eventually embrace her darkest tendencies.

And when I say Maeve has some dark tendencies, I mean they are dark. After spending the first third of the book crafting a fascinating character study of a peculiar, slightly unhinged young woman, C.J. Leede lets loose as Maeve becomes completely unraveled, lacing her narrative with scenes of graphic violence and sex and gore. This is extreme horror, and comparisons to American Psycho are completely apt (in fact Maeve acknowledges that she draws much of her inspiration from Patrick Bateman). Maeve is also obsessed with Story of the Eye, so if you're familiar with either of those works, that should give you a pretty good idea of the direction things take.

Despite the graphic content, there is something kind of...fun about Maeve Fly. It's darkly funny and witty, especially in the first third of the book as Leede is developing Maeve's character. There's something so appealing about Maeve's princess side juxtaposed with her psychopath side. And then, as the narrative becomes increasingly violent, there is a surreal, absurdist aspect to it all that isn't fun, exactly, but is definitely fascinating. This is all set against the backdrop of a Los Angeles portrayed without its veneer of sunshine and success, as a deranged princess stalks her prey through palm-littered streets. It's so disturbing and bizarre and compulsively readable and weirdly wonderful.

Maeve Fly is not a book for the faint of heart, but if you can handle incredibly graphic descriptions and hardcore horror elements, I think you'll enjoy your time with it. I'm definitely curious to read whatever Leede writes next, because what could she possibly write after this over-the-top debut?! Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC!

I genuinely went into this book blind (how I prefer) and didn't know what quite to expect. This book had a strong reference to Disney as the main character Maeve works as a princess actor, but the princess she is NOT. Twisted and intertwined with her need to kill, Mauve is inconveniently burdened with her ill gran, the famous Tallulah Fly despite her warped days and the events that follow.