This book is a perfect master piece. A true glimpse of the faire we were warned about as children.
Absolutely stunning .

We meet Verity Springer she is a teller of tales and wants nothing more than for her father to return and that her stories make it on to the pages of the local paper so that her family can live and eat.

That simple life is ripped away when she finds her father's murdered body. And yet when the local authority is called no crime is found to be committed.

Then our adventure begins after a sickness Verity is stolen away by a Fae lord . Not knowing who or what to trust all she knows is she must find her way back to her family.

It's a beautiful and haunting fairy tale that harkens back Grimms fairy tales. I loved this book more than words.

It was an amazing book, though I do think trigger warning definitely apply for this book. I loved verd being strong. Also I must admit I found the whole kidnapping thing problematic thinking she’d fall in love with the male who kidnapped her I was glad to be proven wrong. Cannot wait for next book in series

This book has such a cool cover!! It also has a good name and good description, but when you actually start reading it.... I did not finish. It was rough. It's a bad fanfiction of Little Women / Jane Austen novels and ACOTAR. ACOTAR is already pretty bad and this was even worse. I don't really know how to even describe this. Everything is so flat. Stuff happens too fast for proper explanation and then we move on. Relationships between characters (the sisters) are supposed to be assumed maybe because I didn't get anything from them.

It feels like an idea that was then spoken into a voice note as bullet points and then badly transcribed. I was really excited for this book and very let down. I did get to the point where she goes to the fae realm but it was just so.... erugh. It felt like I also saw a lot of similarities from other popular books and it felt like they had just been plopped in without making them part of the world. I wish I had better things to say about Brittle.

"Brittle" by Beth Overmyer is an enthralling and imaginative novel that ventures into the realm of new adult sci-fi fantasy, delivering a unique blend of intrigue and otherworldly magic. Overmyer's storytelling brilliance shines as she weaves a tale of mystery, power, and the exploration of hidden realms. The book's vivid world-building and dynamic characters create an immersive reading experience that resonates with readers interested in fantasy and new adult fiction. Overmyer deftly explores themes of identity, discovery, and the enigmatic forces that shape our lives, adding depth to the narrative. "Brittle" is a captivating reminder that there's more to our reality than meets the eye, leaving readers with a sense of fascination and a renewed appreciation for the limitless possibilities of the fantastical.

tl;dr: ACOTAR if you bought it on Wish.

Thank you to New Leaf and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the premise of this book sounded really interesting: a girl’s father is murdered in suspicious circumstances and no one believes her, and then she’s kidnapped by a Fae Lord. The opening chapter intrigued me, but unfortunately it was all downhill after that, and my gripes with this book are numerous.

Gripe one: the characters were poorly written, underdeveloped, and, in the case of the main character, Verve, generally quite useless. At the very least, characters should be interesting. And these characters could have been, but they lacked any sort of development or backstory so it was impossible to know their motivations or connect with them in any way. I couldn’t root for anyone because I didn’t know what they wanted, what they were doing, or what the stakes were. The two Fae men, Dacre and Fenn, are inexplicably in love with Verve and have beef with each other, but the author never explains why. They essentially spend every chapter either trying to feed Verve, which she always rejects (then complains about how hungry she is) or carrying her around (which she also complains about).

Verve is always either falling asleep, just waking up from sleep, being carried, or literally doing nothing. There were some better scenes in the second half where she was practising magic, and I felt like the author depicted her panic disorder fairly well, but otherwise I found her very uninspiring. Dacre is obsessed with her and we don’t know why, and it feels like the author wanted there to be some romantic tension between them but there was just nothing. Then she repeated that with Fenn (but the reader and Verve are told to like him for some reason).

Gripe two: As well as neglecting to develop the characters, the author also forgot to build a world for them to inhabit. I could not tell you one single thing about the setting of this story. It felt a little bit historical maybe, but no specifics are given. Places and people just spring up when they’re relevant to the plot and then disappear again afterwards. There’s no sense of anything existing outside of the scene it’s in.

The magic had some interesting elements and I would have found these interesting if they’d been developed more. Each character’s magic having its own scent is a nice idea, and trees being portals was a fun way to get the characters from place to place. The magic system was quite vague and it was all a bit too convenient how characters could just magic things away or use magic to solve their problems.

Gripe three: I disliked the writing style and eventually started highlighting all the weird phrases Verve used to try and entertain myself. The dialogue was clunky and the author had a few stock phrases that she repeated throughout the novel, which got a little bit jarring. I also hated how the male Fae were just ‘Fae’ but the female Fae were ‘She-Fae’, which felt very misogynistic. The ‘She-Fae’ and human women were also treated terribly and were even more underdeveloped than the central three characters. There was another woman in the Fae manor house with Verve and it looked at one point like she could have been important, and then she was just taken away with no explanation.

Gripe four: The plot was confusing and borderline nonexistent. It had started out so promising! And then Verve was just trapped in a room for ages! Some other things happened to her (she never drives any scene or plot point), a handsome man we’re supposed to like shows up to help her but it’s never really explained who he is, why he’s helping her, or why he loves her all of a sudden and then there’s an incredibly rushed ending that makes no sense. The drama and plot was resolved in about 4 pages. There was not one single point in this book where I knew why the things that were happening were happening. It felt like the author had some ideas but couldn’t expand on them in any meaningful way.

This brings me on to my fifth and final grip, as the author’s ideas did not feel like her own. I saw on social media that the author described this book as having “ACOTAR vibes”, and she’s right, it does. In fact, the ACOTAR vibes are so strong it’s like she tried to rewrite ACOTAR and hoped no one would notice. This book is ACOTAR if you bought it on Wish. It is baffling to me that the author would choose to draw attention to the similarities between the two books because, despite Brittle’s flaws, some readers might have been able to enjoy it if they took it on its own merit. Unfortunately, it does not hold up next to ACOTAR, and I spent the whole time reading it wishing I was re-reading that instead.

Here are some of the things Brittle shares in common with ACOTAR. I know not every book with these things is like ACOTAR, but when there’s this much overlap it’s hard not to compare them.

- The main character is one of three sisters: one sister who looks after the other two, one who is immune to Fae magic, and one who is a bit boring.
- There are two men who are immediately in love with the main character despite only having very limited interactions with her. The first man is bad so we automatically have to like the second one and assume they're made for each other.
- The second man seems to have some sort of mate bond with the main character that she’s tricked into accepting.
- A woman is turned into a Fae by being submerged in water against her will.
- The main character goes to a party where she meets her future mate.
- The main character and her mate are super special and the most powerful characters ever and they will undoubtedly end up in charge of everything.
- The love interest has dark hair and dark eyes and is the most powerful man ever but also a sweet soft uwu cinnamon roll.

This wasn’t the amazing and magical Fae romance I was hoping it would be. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the time I spent reading this book and cannot recommend it to anyone else.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

1.5 stars

I think I probably read this book with a look of incredulity on my face for 80% of the time. I very nearly DNFed it so many times and, in retrospect, I wish I had. I love a fae story as much as the next girl but this just did not hit the mark.

First we have Verve, a Jo March from Little Women knock-off. How does one base a character off such a beloved person and make them unlikeable? Verve is 'not like other girls' and throws temper tantrums worthy of a child. Her temper is her only defined characteristic, otherwise she's, well... bland. She goes through a fair amount of trauma but just doesn't really react traumatised in anyway.

Next we have the magic system which just doesn't really make any sense. It just isn't fleshed out, other than each person has their own scent when they use magic.

The we have the two fae lords who happen to fall in love with our bland, angry MC pretty much instantly. Dacre is probably the most three dimensional character in that he's incredibly creepy and gives me the ick. Fenn has no depth and starts too many sentences with 'May I...?' Don't get me wrong, we love consent but my god.

Not to be entirely negative, the world building was pretty good. I really enjoyed the hawthorn trees having identities and having to convince them to become portals (love me a talking tree. Tree beard, I'm looking at you)

The writing style itself was pretty good, but the pacing seemed way off. For a shorter book, it seemed like it took a long time for anything to get moving and I did find myself skimming. But then the end was extremely abrupt and there were a lot of lose threads like how her father came to be involved with the fae and what the cunning blade was actually for.

If this was written to be almost a mystery novel, then it nailed it because I truly had no clue what was going on. There was just enough intrigue to keep me going to the end. But honestly, I'm not glad I did.

This story felt like it dragged on & on with a FMC that was so annoying that I couldn't find a quality about her that a liked about her. The story wasn't cohesive I felt I was jerked around & couldn't find my footing. The books & authors this book was compared to are unjust because the story in this book was super shallow and not engaging like 1000 of other books with similar stories.

I'm hoping that 2nd book is leaps and bounds better than this one.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

I received and arc copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you to Flame tree press for allowing me to read this book.
The start of the book reminded me of little women with the family dynamic. I enjoyed leaning about Verve’s world and I thought the world building was great. I liked that she was more like a normal woman and not instantly falling for her captor. I do feel that the descriptions of the fae could be better as I struggled to imagine how they looked Dacre gave me the creeps from the start so I had a feeling he wasn’t the main love interest.
The second part of the book was good but I would have liked to see more interaction with Fenn and how she came to have feelings for him. One minute she was trying to get close to him to steal the blade and the next day she was sleeping with him without us understanding her change of heart. Especially when she has been so proper throughout the whole book.
I will definitely be looking out for the second book in the series and looking for more books from the author in the future.

The concept is interesting, but the execution didn’t land. First of all, I’m amazed that Little Women isn’t even mentioned in the blurb, considering this begins by presenting as a near retelling. The magic of the March sisters is missing, though. Jo isn’t amazing because she’s “not like other girls,” she’s amazing as a unique individual, as are the rest of the March girls. The setup doesn’t transfer over to the rest of the story, either, leaving a vaguely Jo-like girl in a plot that has nothing resembling Little Women. The writing style is fine, in that it isn’t grating in any way. The pacing was off, though, with too little happening for long stretches and then a hurried leap in plot.

The characterization was okay on a surface level, but I don’t feel any tension or chemistry between any of the characters. “Fae fall in love fast” is not an excuse for having no illustration of what anyone is feeling or how they got there. Even the “love” scene ended in an extremely abrupt closed door. I found the concept of the world interesting, but the world-building was as muzzy as the rest. It sounds like I disliked this, and I didn’t - I just didn’t feel much of anything. With so many fantasy romances out there, I’m unlikely to continue this series.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for allowing me a copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

After seeing the length of this book I was sure it was going to be a quick read and it definitely didn’t was just not in a good way.

Our novel starts immediately with our main character, Verve, learning about the existence of the Fae and the danger soon to pose to her family her world. The final nail is hit when her father dies of mysterious circumstances she however, knows to be foul play.

Soon, Verve is kidnapped by a disguised Fae and sent to their land for unknown reasons. Hurt, locked away and worried of her family’s wellbeing, Verve struggles to survive in this strange estate where the rooms don’t make sense the people are rude.

With talk of her role in a prophecy as well as a supposed dangerous rogue Fae hunting her, Verve is more than confused by her captors intentions.

Though I did enjoy the premise of this book it’s a one and done kind of plot. I did enjoy how Verve was written with qualities I admired but the plot was too face paced for me. All of a sudden things are bad and then more bad but then they’re fine and oh my god I love you!

All of the loose threads are snipped by the end leaving nothing to be excited about in the next book. Villains defeated, family secured, married. What’s left?

All considered I rated this book 2.5 stars.

I've really enjoyed this book, I absolutely love Verve. She is a brilliantly feisty young woman who very much won't let anyone control her if she can have any say in it. I've loved watching how she's developed throughout the book, and look forward to reading more of the series.
I liked learning about the Fae and all the different little bits of world-building that I got to discover as I read. I'm really glad that she did end up with Fenn, the speed with which she trusted him was a little quick (especially after just having another Fae attempt to drown her) and the whole Fae fall-in-love fast thing was a little too fast for me. But I did like their banter with each other and the way he dealt with her temper made me smile at times.
I defiantly enjoyed the writing style, I practically lost hours reading this book, barely noticing the time and I have no regrets about that. I will be keeping an eye out for the rest of the series and I think I may just investigate more books by this author, I have a feeling I will most defiantly enjoy them. Oh, and that cover is just so beautiful!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I had better news to report, but this was so painfully dull that I DnF'd it roughly 20% of the way through. I didn't feel like this book offered anything new and I did not care about the characters at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me a digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book missed every mark for me The pacing was extremely off and the plot was unclear. The tone for every character felt similar and void of individual personalities. The only thing that separated Verve was her supposed temper. Her temper only made her seem juvenile.

This story eluded to a love triangle. None of these characters had any chemistry and every moment felt forced. The situation seemed to be similar to another very popular series and it was not executed well. The romance portion was underwhelming.

Her fathers death seemed to hold importance, and the resolution of this was not determined. If it was, I missed it. The ending was rushed and seemed overly simplified for how complex things were implied to be with no clear resolution or any answers explained. I was disappointed.

This novel was written from only Verve’s perspective, which caused a lot of confusion regarding what was happening, the world, the magic system and their laws. This book could have benefited from the perspectives of one of both of the MMC as well as the MFC. This would have given readers more insight and understanding as to why things were happening.

The ending is set up for a sequel, but I can not see myself reading it. With more plot and character development I think this could have been a good story.

Thank you to Random Things Book Tours and Flame Tree Press for my arc.

This is a fantasy novel filled with fae and romance its moee romance with a inkling of fantasy. Following Verve to another world which seems sudden and unknown why the book is split into two parts and the frist part in slow burn and it very descriptive. This is the first book in the series so with the upcoming books I feel we will learn about more of the connections of both worlds .
Although there was a lot of action towards the end, it seemed a little hurried and almost deflating. I'm hoping the remainder of the series include some formidable foes and spectacular battles.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed by this one! It had such potential and the premise was *calling* to me, but the execution was just not successful.

I found Verity to be overly childish (though she is aged and supposedly characterized as an adult) and when your entire plot hinges on a character being annoying and petulant, it just doesn't follow through. Unless you're counting on having some serious character development - which this just didn't have.

Brittle just didn't live up to it's potential, which is disappointing. It tried to hard to be the next ACOTAR, and didn't really spend enough time learning to become its own story.

I want to preface this review by saying even if I didn't enjoy this book, this may be someone else's favorite and that it is all about opinion and how individuals responded to it. Thanks.

This book had me teetering on the edge of DNF territory, which I rarely do. But, well, I just pushed on and slightly regret it, because was there even a plot to this story? I'm so upset with this story, as I never feel this way after reading something. Just empty. I try not to be mean when leaving reviews, but reviews are about honesty, so here I go.

Everything about this book was confusing and didn't make sense when put together. The worldbuilding was nonexistent; you had the realm and the human realm and these Hawthorne trees acting like a bouncer for the two. And that's where the world-building ended. There should have been some building upon that.

Characters... where are thou depth and development? Our two main dudes waltz in like they missed the memo about being the show's stars. And then we've got our leading lady, the MFC. She's on a journey, but it's more of a leisurely stroll through a garden of confusion. She's got this one trick – she's "not like other girls" – and she pulls it out of her hat like a magician with a limited repertoire. What an annoying pick-me girl.

This book was so anticlimactic and confusing, from the magic system and plot down to the characters. Man. I really don't want to keep going on, but I did not like this book.

I was given an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

BRITTLE by Beth Overmyer is a historical romance with faeries, magic, and hot fae galore.

Verve just wants to support her family with her writing. But when her father shows up in the middle of the night, raving about faeries and a hidden war, her life is turned upside down. Things get even more crazy when Verve's father is mysteriously murdered-- except no one believes it happened. Verve is soon whisked away by one of the faeries that her father warned her about, and it will take all of her wits and stubbornness to survive.

In a lot of ways, BRITTLE is very reminiscent of A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES. A girl, who is also the breadwinner of her family, is unwillingly dragged into the world of Faerie and forced to live with a mysterious fae, who seems to have a thing for her. Sound familiar? And just to be clear, I mean that in the best possible way; I LOVED that series. But BRITTLE also adds its own particular flavor to the story, especially with the more formal Victorian-style language. It was a beautifully written book, filled with emotion and enough adventure to keep you on your toes.

I also very much enjoyed the worldbuilding. The author did an amazing job describing her magic system. I particularly loved how she tied it in to something a reader could easily perceive. For example, she added in bursts of smells (like citrus and coffee) as an after effect of spell casting. I would have appreciated a little bit more detail into traditional fae logic (can they lie, for instance?) but overall, I understood the world that the author set up.

My one major gripe with the novel was the pacing of the romance. The romantic male lead (who, like in ACOTAR, is not the one who initially kidnaps her) falls in love with the protagonist remarkably quickly. The author kind of pushes that to the side by mentioning that fae "fall in love quickly," which, given traditional fae lore about faeries stealing people for beauty, I can accept. However, Verve falls in love with him fairly quickly too. It also doesn't feel like there's a ton of development leading up to her falling in love with him; it felt more like I blinked between one page and the next and the love was reciprocated. There was a lot of stuff going on in this novel, so I can understand how the romance fell to the wayside a little bit. My recommendation would probably have been to spread out the romance so that she fell for him in a later novel (since we know there is at least going to be a sequel). That way we would get to sit with the characters a little more and feel out their chemistry.

That said, I did really enjoy the book, and I would recommend that others read it. So, obviously, the romance didn't bother me that much.

4 Stars!

When I read Beth Overmyer’s The Goblets Immortal series, I was hooked by a vibrant, new (to me, at least) fantasy author. The series left me wanting for more and I was happy to see her return with the start of a new series in Brittle. These novel kicks off the Blade and Bone series and I was eager to see what Overmyer had in store with this new world.



Verve wanted nothing more than to be strong for her family when she found the evidence of her father’s murder. The problem, however, is that no one believed her. She tries to move forward, though, and becomes the family’s provider. Then she gets taken away to the land of the fairies and nothing will ever be the same again.



Verve finds herself in Letorheas, that land of the fairies, with no idea what she is supposed to know that makes her so important. She had some strange messages from a couple of her father’s associates that hinted at something, but she did not know what. The adventure is just starting, however, as she is rescued from the evil fae lord and begins a mad dash across the lands of the fae and the humans. Along the way, she learns of the magic dagger that can end immortal life, whose location her father had knowledge of, meets new friends, and maybe even finds love. With the fate of the world on her shoulders, nothing will ever be the same again.



Brittle comes across as a bit of an odd book as it sets out to establish a new world, but there is so much action in such little space that the world-building never takes the forefront. This seemed a bit odd in the first book of a series and I felt almost as if I was missing something. Things moved a little too quickly, especially at the beginning, and this made it hard to get invested in the characters as much as I would have liked. This is a bit surprising as there is usually more depth in a series than a standalone novel since the writer knows there is more time to develop the characters and build the world. Maybe Overmyer has plans to further develop this in the next book, but it left me wanting for more in the opening act.



Brittle is, quite simply, and entertaining and fast read. One of the reasons I wandered away from the genre is that it seemed to be often full of books that were more interested in world-building than story telling. There is a market for that, to be sure, but it is not my preference as I think you cannot have story development at the sake of a good story. Overmyer may have crafted a novel that moves a bit too quick for some readers, but it worked well for me. There was enough development of the world and characters to satisfy me, although I will admit that I am not a fan of any of the male characters who seem a bit one-dimensional and manipulative, and the story moves along at a fast pace. Brittle is not a perfect fantasy novel, but it is a good way to spend a couple hours in a world that is far removed from our own. Recommended, and I am interested to see where Overmyer will take us next.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Brittle is scheduled to be released on August 15, 2023.

Reading this book was like reading a poor imitation of ACOTAR. The similarities between the two books were crazy. It's like the author read it and decided to rewrite the story with a few minor changes. Olive reminded me so much of Alis that I felt like I was reading ACOTAR again.

Even if I was to ignore that, it doesn't really make the book more enjoyable for me. Verve, our main character, was such an awful character. She had absolutely no redeeming features. Verve just had a nasty temper, was constantly rude to every single person she met, and we were told that 'she is not like other girls.' She made stupid mistakes and decisions over and over again, and I wanted to scream. I couldn't stand her and had no idea why 2 men would be in love with her as she was miserable.

Speaking of love, the romance in this book was just poor, I hate even calling it romance because it did not even come close. Dacre was constantly cruel to Verve, and then he would flip and attempt to be kind to her. We then learn he's in love with her as fae fall in love quickly. It was a poor reason for it.

Then, in the second half of the book, she is with Fenn, who also suddenly falls in love with her despite them never really having a real conversation or spending any time getting to know each other. It wasn't at all believable, and I was so confused by how this could ever be described as a romance?

I felt that the writing started out very slow, and nothing much happened in the first 50%, and then suddenly we get to the second half of the book, and it's all go! The ending was super, super rushed, and condensed into a number of pages. I actually had no real idea what the book was meant to be about in the end? The description of the book talks about her fathers murder which was barely focused on in the beginning and then completely ignored. Then we hear about a prophecy, which again, there is no explanation for it, and it isn't expanded on. Multiple times throughout the book, Fenn is referred to as the Rogue Prince, and we are not once told why or what he has done for all other fae to hate and fear him. Nothing really made sense. It was like the author had multiple ideas and just attempted to mash them together into one book.

This, for me, was a really disappointing read, and I didn't enjoy it enough to want to pick up any sequels to learn how it ends.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

What an addictive story! It started out a bit slow and uncertain but once the plot got going, I was hooked. The story has this eerie faerie feel throughout and I like that it’s familiar but original at the same time.

I really like the main character Verve, she’s courageous and strong. She’s got wits and isn’t instantly charmed by all the male attention. The male characters are interesting and written in a way that Verve and the reader can’t be quite sure what’s really going on.

The end had a lot of action, but it felt a bit rushed and almost anticlimactic. I’m hoping the rest of the series bring forth some epic enemies and battles.

But this book had so many elements I love that these minor issues I had mainly with the pacing didn’t really bother me that much. I’m a sucker for a strong female character, especially with a powerful fated destiny.

I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to find out how things develop throughout the series!