Cassidy brought us Mary and it still sends chills down my spine. Now, Nestlings, is being compared to the paranoia found in Rosemary's Baby and the urban horror of Salem's Lot. If you love reading a book that will provide you with incredible dread with every page you're in for a creepy and intense spooky read.

Wow. This is a bloodcurdling good time. This story has three parts where we follow three different main characters. The first part is about Erin who caught the new pandemic virus. This virus is way worse than Covid. It turns Erin into a brain eating thing. Part two we follow a prostitute who catches the disease and learns through eating brains and then regurgitating them. She also “gets off” on her murders as she can no longer “get off” from her old profession profession. The third part is about the chosen woman. The woman who’s lived her entire life growing tumors and the part those tumors play in the apocalypse. All the stories come together for lackluster ending. I listen to this on audiobook and was thoroughly engrossed. I didn’t want to stop, even when I needed to take breaks because of disturbing mental. The last hour of this book was ugghh. Some of the action was predictable and at times it was felt like the author had run out of ideas and couldn’t come up with anything better. The book also ends at a weird point. You think there’s a problem with your audiobook and that you’re not at the end of the story but you are. So, except for the last hour, this was a good book. This book is a four-star read. The last hour of this audiobook was a two star read. Trigger warning for everything. If you are not in hard-core blood and guts with a little bit of erotica thrown in, do not pick up this book. If you like a good monster tale, that leaves your eyes wide then pick this up and hopefully you like the ending better than I did.

I really enjoyed this one. Thank you, NetGalley for sharing this with me. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more.

Cool concept, poor execution. This is another short story that later became a full length novel (2012 Bram Stoker Award Winning “Magdala Amygdala”). Y’all already know how I feel about this. We don’t need to make a full length novel out of everything. We don’t need to glorify and sexualize a child predator serial killer. We don’t need to have a racist serial killer. Other, smarter people have covered the bases on what makes this story problematic but it was also pretty boring so I think it’s safe to skip.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

"Sister Maiden Monster" immerses readers in a chilling world of horror with its gory and visceral narrative. The author skillfully crafts a spine-tingling atmosphere, keeping the suspense and terror at a relentless pace. This gruesome tale of horror enthusiasts will appreciate the vivid descriptions and relentless tension that keep you on the edge of your seat. Not for the faint-hearted, "Sister Maiden Monster" delivers a dark and twisted journey into the macabre that will haunt your thoughts long after the final page.

I liked this overall, but I have some conflicting feelings!

The writing is excellent, and the horror is horrifying, and I was certainly engaged once I started reading. My mixed feelings are mostly structural; this is told in three interconnected-but-separate novella-length “parts,” which didn’t always feel meshed well together, and I felt like some of them were much more developed and “complete”-feeling than others. (The first was especially good, the second especially weak, and the third somewhere in the middle.) I also felt like there was a lot of story development which happened very quickly at the end of the book, which left me with a lot of unanswered questions and some overall dissatisfaction. I will definitely pick up the author’s future work, and I would still recommend this one, though!

I read this partially via an ALC, and partially via a physical copy; if you’re thinking of trying it on audio, I’d definitely recommend doing so! It was a great way to read (does anyone else feel like horror is always more horrifying on audiobook?) and the narration was excellent. Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the audio copy!

A delightful creature-born apocalypse tale told from the perspectives of three different women. Brimming with body horror and pandemic panic, it's not an apocalypse tale that ends when the book closes.

*3 stars*

This was gross and horrific; an interesting commentary on the Covid-19 pandemic. While I enjoyed the body horror and eldritch style monster, I was a little underwhelmed overall. This tackled a lot of topics to critique including the pandemic, religion, and sexism especially concerning reproductive rights but the plot felt very confusing and messy at times and not in a good way. The ending was a little ambiguous for me but I did really enjoyed the writing style and found it to be really imaginative.

I enjoyed the narration of the audiobook, there’s something about listening to horror that always hits me harder than just reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

Such a badass women rule book. From the title I knew this was gonna be fun and the audiobook did not let me down.

2023 LGBTQIA+ Pride Month #15 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I can always go in for a little cannibalism. So I originally thought this was pandemic fiction, which was one of the reasons I held off. But this isn't the coronavirus. And it's not quite a zombie apocalypse, but it kind of is. I know I should be disgusted reading about women eating men's brains, but I'm not, so...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

This started off as a pandemic type novel and quickly spiraled into something else. Told in three sections, each by a different woman, with different viewpoints, but the same overall timeline. I was not prepared, and that was kind of great. I didn’t have any expectations going in, and so when a plot point threw me a bit, it was just part of the ride. This had a lot of gore, and it honestly fascinated me. It just took me a while to listen to. The narrator did a great job, it was just something about hearing some of those words spoken that made me have to set it down and go get a palate cleanser at points. Overall, a good book if you are a fan of horror!

There’s a new virus in town, and while people are going back to their Covid protocol, it’s nothing like it. It is a GI bug that you literally start bleeding out from the inside. And IF you survive it? You are different. You can’t eat the same, you can’t do every day tasks the same. There are different classifications of those survivors based on what their new, preferred, diet is based on. Type 2 and type 3: it sounds so innocuous, but things are quickly spiraling out of control and the government isn’t in as much control as they think they are.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The story was interesting however I lost interest as it went on. The story started off strong, but the change of perspective as it went on took away from the story. I lost interest in the story with the last two characters, but the plot was interesting enough for me to finish reading.

I went into this one blind without knowing pretty much anything and while I recommend that for added shock-value, i think it kind of ended up confusing me following the story. It’s told from 3 separate POV’s during a rather apocalyptic pandemic and I absolutely loved the bad ass women in this story and the strange roles they played in the worlds changes.

It had some of the best cosmic body horror I’ve ever read and while grossed out I absolutely wanted more. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

This might be my favorite book of the year, and I read this in March.

Sister, Maiden, Monster is a feminist cosmic horror apocalypse plague story told in three parts. It's everything I want in a horror story and more. It literally screams for agency, equality, and grapples with some of our society's biggest questions as the world in the book goes through some astonishing and irreversible changes.

I won't say too much in the review as I believe this book is best going in as blind as possible, but know it's incredible work of horror, pulling from many of horror's subgenres to combine into an exquisite work.

Gloriously fucked up, this is one is not for the faint of heart, but absolutely is a can’t-miss read for fans of cosmic horror, body horror, and monster gore.

‘Sister, Maiden, Monster’ is both in part inspired by Bram Stoker’s (also excellent) short story ‘Magdala Amygdala’ and is a brilliant commentary on the modern world through the feminine perspective wrapped up in the skin of a delightfully disturbing eldritch apocalypse. Snyder takes us on a journey from a mysterious pandemic to the end of the world as we know it, all through the eyes of three women connected in six degrees of separation fashion. First we meet Erin the devoted girlfriend and patented Good Girl, followed by Savannah the psychology-inclined sex worker, and finally Mareva the chronically ill family disappointment with a huge destiny. Each woman’s journey reflects on thought-provoking subjects like forbidden desires, bodily autonomy, religious experiences, carnal expression, social persecution, and reproductive rights. If you can stomach the visceral and descriptive body horror, this is an amazing piece of lovecraftian fiction filled to the brim with symbolism and theming begging to be brought up in group discussion. It’s difficult to speak on ‘Sister, Maiden, Monster’ in detail without getting carried away into specifics verging on spoilers or without recalling the bone-deep disgust it elicits and I think that speaks volumes about the quality of the work.

Please check and heed content warnings before diving into this masterpiece.

Thank you so much to Lucy A Snyder and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to experience an advanced listening copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to my friends at @tornightfire and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies of this book.

Vivid. Grotesque. Intense. This is quite possibly the most thoughtfully disturbing book I’ve ever read.

Synder’s note from her editor read, “Lucy, WTF is wrong with you? Good grief that story was messed up. Thanks, I think.”

That pretty much sums up my thoughts.

What the hell did I just read? And WHY did I keep reading???

I was completely disturbed. I was horrified. There were times I thought I might vomit. And often, I couldn’t even understand the depravity of what I was reading.

YET… I couldn’t look away. I didn’t want to look away. I was fully immersed in this horrific world and had to watch every gory detail play out. I binged this book.

But it’s not just shock and awe. My friends and I had a truly great discussion over this book. Beyond the outrageous, this book was incredibly thought provoking. With symbolism and theming that ranged from religion to reproductive rights and carnal desires, our conversations solidified this read, in all its obscenity, completely worthwhile.

The book is broken into three sections, almost like connected novellas, each told from a different point of view. My favorite of the sections was the first, which is based off of Snyder’s Bram Stoker award winning short story, “Magdala Amygdala.” But in the last section, we get Baby Greogory. So it’s not to be counted out.

To be sure, this book is *not* for everyone. It’s gruesome, it’s erotic, and it’s downright disturbing.

But it’s also a book I keep thinking about… whatever that says about me.

🎧 I enjoyed this in both print and audio , and I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice.

Dear Sister, Maiden, Monster,
You left me feeling so uncomfortable, but in a good way. You were so visceral at times, and so descriptive that I shuddered at your images. You left disturbing pictures in my head that will certainly take a while to fade. But the concept behind the story, and the whole idea of the invasion was so interesting. I am interested to know how you will play out in the rest of the series World destruction seems inevitable, but I know there has to be more to the next book. You really left a long lasting impression on me and I want to know more.

Thank you to the author Lucy A. Snyder, publisher Macmillan Audio, and as always NetGalley, for an advance audio copy of SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER.

This book felt to me like three separate stories that connect loosely at the wide swinging hinge of a pandemic. These wonderful stories are as much about women surviving as they are about a bug. This bug is no Covid-- people unfortunate enough to contract this one become very hungry for some very strange food. For the empowered woman, the new world could hold odd promise. And giving birth takes on new significance.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, which was spare structurally, but descriptively generous. I had a couple of wonderful ick moments, which I thought pushed this book a few inches into the transgressive horror genre. The body horror described here is creative and suggestive of transformation. I consider this also a piece of feminist horror, but I do not think you have to appreciate feminism to appreciate this book.

Rating: 🧌🧌🧌🧌.5 / 5 weird person things
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: March 23 2023
Read this if you like:
🦑 H.P. Lovecraft
🩸 Body horror
⚗️ Sci-Fi horror
🏚 Post apocalyptic fiction
🧬 Pandemic horror

I was expecting something along the lines of Stephen King meets Covid, what I unpacked was Stephen King, Dan O’Bannon (wrote Alien) and Covid2050. The book is freaky enough but to bring three different perspectives and voices elide within the story in fantastic! I will admit I wasn’t too much of a fan of the ending. To be it was a bit of a let down. Otherwise it definitely keeps you reading!


Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this creepy, creative, piece of work!