This. Is. the most. Fucked up. Book. I have ever read. And it is a work of pure genius and I loved every page of it. This is not a book for everyone, it is a specific horror that I don't even think all horror lovers will vibe with. But goddamn, this truly was like a more fucked up Psycho. Even a more fucked up, disturbing American Psycho (IMO). Like if this was made into a movie, I don't know if I personally could handle watching it. But as a book, incredible. I couldn't even try to put my thoughts into a cohesive line of words. Liiiike... am I fucked up for enjoying this so much?

Hilarious. Violent. Brilliant. Feminist. Bonkers. There are a lot of words that can be used to describe Maeve Fly. This novel tells the story of a young girl in LA who lives with her comatose grandmother and works at an unnamed but very obvious theme park with her best friend. Maeve is a strange girl with even stranger interests. Her story is not for the faint of heart. I hope everyone enjoys this book as much as I did and I am eager to see more from this author.

This book took me a minute to get into but I stuck with it because it was recommended to me by two very trusted reader friends in the publishing community as one of the most disturbing books they've ever read. And boy, did it deliver in the last 25%. You have to appreciate the slow but deliciously dark climb and character building to Halloween, and then it all goes off.

My friends' commentary was that there are so many books about male serial killers, but most books about female serial killers make SA a part of their backstory and "rationale" for killing. This is not the case here. We have a woman who is simply deranged, slightly unhinged, but mostly filled with something dark inside her. She quells this darkness to protect the two people - and one thing - she loves in the world: her job working as Anna from Frozen at California Adventure (this book will be extra-special if you're familiar with the Anaheim Disney parks); her friend Kate who plays Elsa beside her for now, but is dreaming of her shot at Hollywood fame; and her grandmother Tallulah, an old Hollywood icon and Maeve's kindred spirit who's now essentially comatose and at death's door.

I think this book has strong potential to be one of the best horror books of 2023 and I'm so excited to hear what others think of it.

While "Maeve Fly" has an interesting premise, the pacing is inconsistent-- a handful of very slow chapters followed by one fast but very short chapter. The large cast of characters provide characters from different walks of life, but a lot of the secondary characters are half-baked. I feel like this would make much better short story than full-length novel.

First of all, thank you to TOR and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC for this book. The story follows Maeve Fly, who seems a little unhinged to begin with but as the story develops and as Maeve's perfectly crafted life falls apart, the reader truly gets to know Maeve, one sadistic layer at a time. I was surprised with the romance aspect but thought it worked well with the story and made my mouth drop open at that ending.

The story is a bit of a love letter to old Hollywood and Disneyland and digs deep into women's rage. It also touches on the aspect of what women have to do to get by in the acting industry in Hollywood.

I did find that it got a bit too gory for me. I read horror fairly often and this went further than I usually like to read but I also really dislike body horror. Please check for trigger warnings.

Overall, I thought it was a good read, you get to know Maeve intimately and the story was written well. Once the gore starts though it does not let up until the end of the book and be ready for a horror filled ride.

I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS BOOK! Frozen meets Carrie meets American Psycho. I was seeing mixed reviews but this blew me away. Most criticism says it was less horror and more romance but I could not disagree more. This was absolutely depraved in all the best ways. There is a love story of sorts, but it doesn’t dominate the plot and serves as more fuel to the fire that is Maeve.
This book is also a love letter to Los Angeles. I’m also an LA transplant and I love everything about this city - the history, the culture, all of it. I loved seeing the city and so many familiar places through her eyes. The presence of a drunk, violent maybe-Johnny Depp was a surprising, but not unwelcome addition. It added a melancholic depravity to the story.
The Disneyland culture is also a big part of the story. The theme park is like an LA rite of passage - you either sneer at it or let it become a huge part of yourself (I’m the latter). I loved the descriptions of the park, Maeve moving through it.
The horror itself is absolute insanity, Leede holds nothing back. If you like body horror, this book is for you. Maeve is angry, a force to be reckoned with. But she is also so, so alone. The use of Elsa was brilliant symbolism and we see what she could have been.
I will 100% be buying a physical copy of this book, likely to be furiously annotated. It will be released to the public on June 6, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit with this one. I lost count at how many times I stopped breathing and my eyes widening at the pages. I did enjoy the character Maeve. Some of her thoughts I found intriguing and true at the beginning. The romance was a surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting any. I didn’t mind it and it helped tie some things together. I would definitely check your trigger warnings before reading this one. It’s a great gory horror story but definitely check those warnings first.

First and foremost this book has a long list of triggers, so please check that out before you read. If you are going to enjoy this book then you better be ok with a-lot of gore.

This book was a surprisingly great read. It starts off alittle slow but once things get going they go.

When I saw the cover of this book, I knew I had to read it. As a character, Maeve is definitely a bit unhinged and insane. Having a front-row seat in her mind was an interesting experience, especially when it was clear that she was unraveling. I don't think this book will be for everyone, but this will be a hit for people who like gross and disgusting books. I like horror but I will admit that parts of it were too excessive for me.

I'm giving this 3 stars because while I did enjoy a lot of Maeve Fly, it took me a while to get into it. Also, I didn't love the romantic aspects of this book but that's just my opinion.

Thank you Tor and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

Oh. My. God. I went into this book knowing virtually nothing about it and I'm so glad I did. It was jarring and surprising and horrific. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I enjoyed reading the nods to fun places around the city.
Well... enjoyed isn't really the right word for this book. I haven't found the right one yet as I cringed through much of it, but it was so good. It feels like such a new take on this.

What fun for a horror fan! Funny, scary, gross, and touching, all set in Hollywood. Truly a horror fan's dream.

This book is definitely graphic and intense and not for everyone. I highly recommend eating something BEFORE reading this because you won’t be able to eat during or after!

Maeve Fly is as entertaining as it sounds. It has lots of gross parts and I couldn’t put it down. I read this in all of one day, and now I feel sick in a way that only a good horror could make me feel. I felt like laughing and puking at the same time for the most part.
I loved the Halloween playlist woven throughout the story, and the twisted homage to Story of the Eye, which I’ll definitely have to read.

Thank you Netgalley, Tor Nightfire , and CJ Leede for a read I’ll never forget in exchange for review.

I really wanted to like this because of the writing style and I loved Maeve but I just couldn't get into it. I loved the atmosphere of LA and all the descriptions of Disneyland and how magical she thought it all was but I felt like it took a while to get to the point of this book.

So, this was a trip...I gamely went along for the ride as Princess Maeve takes us through her rage, mutilation, and destruction of all she knows and holds dear in modern day Los Angeles.
Warning: this book has extreme violence, torture, and gore!!
By day Maeve is a Frozen Disney Princess working at Disneyland, while at night she bar hops with her friend Kate and tries to quell the murderous rage growing inside her. This rage comes to a peak when she gets fired, from the happiest place in the world.
Maeve lives with her dying grandmother, who apparently had similar tendencies and eliminated everyone who got in the way of what she wanted. She instructs Maeve in all these techniques. We never get an idea of why she is so angry, but she laments that men can get away with this much more easily than women, and wallows in books that subscribe to the same theory. Did Maeve inherit these tendencies from her grandmother? Could she have been helped by a professional? Who knows. She seems to meet her soulmate in Gideon, Kate's brother, but as the finale queues up, not even he is immune from her rage.
As a fellow non-murderous Angelino, I did like the architectural references about Hollywood, the La Brea Tar Pits, and other sites of interest.
But as it veered into 'American Psycho' territory, it was just gross. It kept my interest though and horror fans would probably enjoy.

DNF at 30%. I started reading this book during spooky season and then got off track. When I got back around to it, I just couldn't get back into the story. Most likely a case of right book, wrong time. I will try this one again later.

** spoiler alert ** [I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

First, let me say it is an absolute travesty that this book was not released in October.

Second, this will delight a very specific demographic. This demographic will include people intrigued by: American Psycho with a rough sex romance, Danger (not)Disney, masturbatory doxxing, broody hipster reading lists and tooth achingly specific music tastes, soft boiled eggs, and sequestered dive bars.

Maeve is an interesting if not likeable character, and she surrounds herself with others of a similar vein. There isn’t a person in this story that I found myself cheering for (except perhaps Lester the Cat, an agent of chaos and absolute gem), but it was a compelling story and I found myself pulled along, invested in witnessing how their stories would unfold. If you enjoy a good gory horror/thriller, Halloween and a decent dose of wonton violence, this’ll be a good fit for you.

Maeve Fly is an interesting one.

I immediately requested this book due to the gorgeous cover and promise of a California female American Psycho. In some ways, it delivered and in other ways, it was disappointing.

The positive are that the prose is genuinely good, and Maeves voice is loud and clear. She is a unique protagonist that has something to say. Unfortunately, the front half of this short book is packed with filler that does not provide a lot of forward movement or intrigue. I was hoping it would lead to some interesting character revelations, but this book truly does take awhile to get to a point where you are digging deep into maeve beyond a surface-level grumpy girl who lives with grandma. I think I just wanted a little more American Psycho style at the beginning. I was expecting the whole story to be more psychological. Sadly, the romance and side characters don't stand on their own well enough for build up.

WHOA. I finished this in three days because I just couldn't put it down. The writing style is very flowy and easy to read, and I really loved the obvious allusion to Disney World. The last fourth-fifth really ramped up to. I enjoyed seeing Maeve's relationships through her perspective. Plus, who doesn't love a female sociopath?

Maeve Fly isn't like other women. Raised by her old Hollywood grandmother in Los Angeles, Maeve accepts that there are few people in her life who will ever truly see her. She isn't perturbed by this realization. After all, she's got an amazing job at a theme park as a princess, the companionship of her likeminded grandmother, and a single friendship with a rising actress. Except, everything is changing. Her grandmother is ill, her friend is on the path to fame and fortune, and a new manager has been hired to assess her work performance. On the brink of so many changes, Maeve is uncertain about what her future holds. Enter Gideon, the sexy hockey player who shows an interest in Maeve, but she isn't good at letting people in. What happens if Gideon finds out her secret?

Leede creates a visceral gore-fest for the reader to devour. The setting reads as a love letter to old Hollywood while exposing the underside of a city filled with dreamers. Maeve stands out as a complex character readers will struggle to dislike despite the skeletons in her closet. Her raw and honest characterizations plays well against the violent horror aspects of the plot, creating mixed emotions within the reader as secrets unravel and blood splashes. At the heart of this story is a universal truth: the desire to be seen as one really is, to not be alone. Readers who enjoy Chuck Palahnuik will find themselves loving the similar writing style and tone of Leede.

First off, thank you so much to #Netgalley, the publisher and especially the author for this ARC!

This book was really fun to read, I did take off a star because the main character felt a little one dimensional. Also, I would take a look at the trigger warnings for this book before reading it :)