"Brittle" by Beth Overmyer is a captivating and thrilling tale of magic and trickery. Readers will be drawn into a world of deception and illusions where not even one's own mind can be trusted.

When Verve’s father returns from the war with a dangerous secret that costs him his life, the world turns upside down for Verve. Snatched by a faerie and brought into Letorheas, the world of faeries, Verve is held hostage and questioned about the location of an ancient faerie artifact. Though she swears she knows nothing, she is to remain in the faerie world until the fae who stole her is convinced she tells the truth. Yet, the longer Verve remains in the faerie realm, the more she learns there are other more devious reasons as to why she is unable to return home. Reasons that may cost her more than her humanity.

“Brittle” was a fast-paced descent into the trickery and devious web-weaving faeries are notorious for. While the faerie realm is always a fascinating place, there is always an underlying taint of malicious intent which proves to be true in this book. Nothing is as it seems. It's hard to predict what will happen next and what consequences the character's actions will have in the large scheme of things. Books that lead readers down twists and turns, deceiving them at every whim, are the best kind!

The characters are also incredibly fascinating. It's easy to fall under the natural charm of the fae characters, who know how to sweet talk and tell half-truths until there is nothing more pleasing than to bend to their every wish and desire. They are masterminds at tricking even the reader into believing their intentions are pure and innocent. Despite Verve's ruthless determination and strength, it is easy to see how even she can become lost in the web of deceit the faeries are so good at weaving.

One thing is for sure, readers who are intrigued by the land of fae and its inhabitants must give this book a read! Overmyer incorporates popular themes of faerie into an original and fresh perspective of what it means to be human in a world of faeries. Add "Brittle" by Beth Overmyer to your TBR lists now and look for the book on its expected publication date of August 15th, 2023!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with a free e-arc of this book and the opportunity to write an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Brittle' by Beth Overmyer.

'Brittle' by Beth Overmyer has such a gorgeous cover, I was excited to read the book but sadly.. the cover was better than the writing. It just fell flat for me and I just didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. I feel like other people's reviews go into such detail as to why it wasn't the greatest but for me, the world building and the characters just weren't my cup of tea.

Brittle is an adult fae fantasy that follows Verve who lives in a Little Women household (4 daughters, the oldest married, the second, Verve, bookish, the third ill, the fourth a brat) and who is spirited away into the land of fae where she is romanced by two men, a sinister one and a mysterious one.

The novel starts in a very engaging manner. I remember reading a few pages at a break at work and I was annoyed that I had to go back to my duties. Verve is a feisty heroine and the beginning with her father’s murder and the revelation of a rare weapon promises thrilling adventure.

That’s not quite what we get, though. I guess some of my disappointment with the turn this story took was that I expected Verve to actively search for her father’s killer or for the weapon, but she does neither. She’s taken as a captive by a powerful fae and spends a large part of the story trying to discover what her captor wants with her and what purpose she has in the scheme of things.

The author’s writing skills are solid. The use of scent in her worldbuilding was unusual and the ritual was shocking. A bold move by the author; I appreciate someone who dares to make her heroes suffer. I also love that the focus is on middle children. It’s always the eldest or the youngest that stand out in most fantasy stories so it was a breath of fresh air to see a middle child in the spotlight.

I do have a few quibbles about some of the tropes in the story. The prophecy and Chosen One narratives are overused and feel a little stale but the one that bothered me is Verve "not being like the other girls” (she actually says it verbatim in the novel) which I thought we’d done away with in 2023, but apparently not. I’m also not keen on the insta-love aspect of the romances but each to their own.

Overall, it’s an engaging story, well-paced, that offers some innovative fae lore while also treading familiar ground. Recommended for fans of fae stories and SJ Maas: this is entirely up their alley.

I have so many questions, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. A lot of my questions are why was the even part of the book? Is this foreshadowing? Did I miss something? Sometime too many questions are not a good thing.

But most importantly what happens next!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my review.

Exciting premise broken by poorly used tropes, slow pacing, and a boring protagonist

Summary: I am a big fan of fantasy romance books that hit the favorite tropes (enemies to lovers, forced proximity, touch her and you die, etc), so it was not the existence of these tropes but how the author failed to use them well that had me flirting with the idea of DNFing multiple times. The pace is agonizingly slow for the first 90% of the book, the love interests are flat, the toxicity of the fae is not disguised well but thrown in your face, and the main character had no agency to propel the story along until she miraculously learns to control her magic in the last few pages.

The only part of this book I actually enjoyed was the trees that act as portals between the human world and fae world. They were adorable and I wanted to see more wholesome scenes of fae creating swings on their branches so children would come play and the trees wouldn't be so lonely.

The writing was okay. A lot of sentences were very repetitive and long, which made the overall reading experience a bit monotone, but it wasn't painful to read. I didn't feel immersed in the world, nor did I feel like I truly knew the characters.

The biggest issue was the main character's agency. We're let to believe that Verve is "not like other girls" of the time period because she likes to write and doesn't plan to marry, but her agency ends at her words. She's dragged through the story by the first fae to fall in love with her (I refuse to acknowledge him as a love interest) and then by the next (legit she get carried like 90% of the travel time). Verve is an author, utilizing knowledge she gained researching things for her books, but she can't question a single thing that happens.

My next critique is the pacing, as we crawl along with little to no excitement from about 10% to 85% (sorry I can't provide specific chapters) and then get rushed through the ending with little to no explanation. I was so bored throughout most of the scenes that added little to the story. Very little felt connected, even less was explained to us.

The world building was very lacking, and even though we were stuck in Verve's head and she was stuck in one mansion, we were given very little other than "fae don't like humans". No politics between lords or with the lord and king, no idea about many inequalities within the world, and I'm still unsure why Fenn and Dacre hated one another.

The last thing I HAVE TO SAY is that if you're going to call them she-fae....you also should say he-fae. That annoyed me to no end that it was she-fae and just fae.

I would not recommend this to anyone unfortunately and I will not be continuing the series.

Thank you to the author, Flame Tree Press, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Verve, after witnessing her father’s death, is frantic and attempts to convince others of what happened – that a fae murdered her father. Nobody is apt to believe her – and instead dismiss her as crazy. As she finally settles into her new routine, she is kidnapped by into the whirlwind fae real of Letorheas – where lies, tricks, and deceit are of the most powerful tools. She is trapped, but cared for -but all she craves is freedom and yearning to be with her family once more. As her temper places her in tense situations, she must learn to control herself, all while understanding her impending destiny with the fae.

On paper, this book honestly sounds amazing. A strong, fiery female lead navigating a cruel, unfamiliar world? Sign me up. This is actually the first “fae” book that I’ve read, so for those comparing the characters to “ACOTAR” or “Little Women,” I can’t say much about that aspect.

Verve herself is a very conflicting character. It feels like she’s attempting to be a strong, fiery lead – especially with her temper being as nasty as it is sometimes. Other times, she comes off as a meek damsel in distress. In a world of magic, one where she has none, she’s playing with fire. They could erase your memories, coerce you, kill you or your family, and she chooses to lash out? Not really a smart move.

“Ignorance isn’t bliss,” said Verve. “It’s the foundation of stupidity.”

“Ah, but pigheadedness is the cornerstone,” said the crone.

However, the world building execution is poor, and the two male leads in this book are wretched. Verve just gives me absolute... Stockholm syndrome in the last half of the book. After being tortured, kidnapped and imprisoned by Dacre, she is treated like a princess. She, at times, warms up to her captor, which made me want to gag. He tries to do nice things for her, but he has hidden, ulterior motives all the same – like all fae.

Time lulls to a halt as we get into a predictable routine. Wake up, eat, wish for escape, try to escape, have Dacre trying to woo her, hurt and abuse her.. The routine continues. Then, we meet Fenn, who kidnaps her away from Dacre, her original captor. Since he appears good, the opposite of most fae, she’s all happy and her stomach magically has butterflies. Within a matter of a day or two. Yikes. Overall, there’s so many secrets with so many of these characters it makes me want to hurl. Both male main characters have screaming red flags on them, and she ends up falling in love with one of them anyway.

“You don’t need to worry about anyone, Verve. You’re safe now.” His voice was sultry, his eyes dark.”

Did I mention the prophecy? Honestly, one can figure out where that goes.

The only true positive I’d give this book is the writing. It’s actually quite pretty, save for a few grammatical errors, and describes the world of Letorheas well. Also, the only “spice” scene in the book fades to black. What’s the point of a mediocre buildup?

Overall, a refreshing, albeit mediocre attempt at books of similar fantasy caliber. A great read if you’re a fan of fae worlds, kidnapping, mysteries, and romance. Just not my cup of tea, especially with the red flag love interests.

Thank you so much to Flame Tree Press, Beth Overmyer and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

Would I recommend this book? Yes.

Who would I recommend it to? If you like acotar or tog by SJM I think you will enjoy Brittle. Also, if you enjoyed the cruel prince, specifically the romance part and not the politics, I believe you’d also enjoy it.

Heads up I cannot guarantee this review is completely spoiler free beyond this point! Read at your own discretion.


Praise:

I’ve heard of shorter fantasy books often being too fast due to their length but it works perfectly for Brittle’s story.

Unique magic (I especially love the stuff to do with trees!).

A character who is interested in Verve asks for her consent to kiss her and (If I recall correctly) doesn't get upset when she brushes his advances off.

The cover is gorgeous!



Critique:

My main issues at first were the fact we’d had almost no build-up to what was happening. At the start we are told a stranger is on the mcs property, then we are told that he's the mc’s father who’s been away at war but has been gone for longer than he should have. I feel if the book had started a day or so before that took place we could have eased into that information by showing us how Verve's family feels about him being missing, this could also help establish her relationship with her family since they become important later on.

The term “she fae” is used a lot but never “he fae” which implies we’re supposed to think of male as the default.

A pet peeve of mine that isn't exclusive to this book, is when things from folklore (especially the fae) barely resemble their inspiration. I feel the fae in a lot of stories that use them recently could be replaced by any other magical creature without anything changing.

The romances were underdeveloped and happened incredibly quickly, I am aware this is excused by saying the fae fall in love quickly which could be interesting, but we never see this outside Verve and her love interests.

The pacing can be clunky at times, mostly being fast-paced and exciting but randomly dawdling before picking up again.

My final thoughts:

At the start, this book felt like it was trying to emulate other stories to do with the fae such as acotar and the cruel prince (especially in the first chapter), but by the end of it Brittle has set up a much more unique way to go and I look forward to reading the next book.

So happy to have received the eArc from NetGalley and Flame Tree Press!

I loved how fast paced this book was! It weaved worldbuilding and plot-line well. Character development was great.

I did feel that the initial plot-line had a very ACOTAR/Cruel Prince feel. While this is not necessarily a bad thing as I also loved those book I was pleased to see the book get its own voice at the end.

Overall I highly recommend, and will be reading the sequels!!

I throughly enjoyed this book a lot. The storyline was very interesting and fast paced.
However the romance not my favorite it’s sorta kinda a love triangle but not really at the same time. But honestly both have major red flags and my girl should run the other direction from both. But overall I really liked it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I totally went into reading this book knowing nothing, but what the synopsis told. I was positively surprised and very much fallen in love with Brittle! Loved it!!

This book smoothly blends fantasy and romance together with the fast plot, rich character developement, interesting world building! It feels semi-dark, yet remains hopeful, while untangles the mystery Verve (the main character faces).

If you are a fan of faes and all the twisty things coming with them, you are going to enjoy this story so much! I was sucked in the story right after chapter 2, where Verve gets a very crazy sounding message from her father - about a creature that can appear even in the exact form of your close loved ones. Then, all goes down to a disaster, where she needs to navigate in a court she is not familiar with. Verve is kind hearted, witty and i loved how she always thought through the rights-wrongs of an act.

Cannot wait for book 2!

Read it if you are looking for:
- Beautifully written scenes
- Little romance without smut
- Loveable characters
- Mental health rep
- Witty banter
- Fast plot and interesting world building
- Unique voice
- Throne of Glass and ACOTAR vibes

Thank you SO MUCH Flame Tree Press/NetGalley for this advanced reading opportunity!

Thank you to Beth Overmyer, Flame Tree Press, and Netgalley for letting me read an ARC of Brittle. Unfortunately, I got about 62% of the way into this book and decided to not finish it. However, I will do my best to provide feedback.

I was drawn to Brittle by its cover and its back copy, and its first two chapters did a wonderful job of bringing me in. I’m introduced to Verve and her father, and I want to know more about the sword that her father seeks. I want to see how Verve avenges his death and seeks the sword that could change everything for her, her family, and the fae realm.

Yet when the fae lord Dacre pretty much kidnaps her and takes her to the world of fairies this way, her agency feels robbed from her, and I start to get bored. She’s understandably taken hostage for having information that Dacre wants, his servants tend to her needs for food and dress, and Dacre flirts with her. That seems to be the cycle for a good few chapters, and it feels a bit repetitive. I would have liked to have seen Verve fight to escape more or think about her father and the sword, but I know that might change the story a bit. If the focus is more on her being kidnapped, then I would have liked to have seen some more despair and hopelessness to set in how dire things are compared to her hope.

I also thought that her interest in writing could have been used more. She studied about lock-picking for one of her novels, but I’m surprised she hasn’t studied about stories from the fae realm as much. These missed opportunities coupled with scenes treading similar ground made it not as exciting for me.

I don’t doubt that Overmyer is a capable writer. I did find Verve and Dacre’s chemistry entertaining, and Overmeyer’s world-building is intricate and skilled. I just don’t think Brittle is firing on all cylinders for me, but maybe it does for others.

I've always appreciated a good fae story, and there are elements of the worldbuilding here that are genuinely unique takes on more traditional depictions of the fae in fantasy. However, the book is ultimately let down by somewhat clumsy writing, haphazard pacing, and a rather under-developed romance subplot. In particular, there is no real sense of time and place in this book (we are just told that it's set in a vague wartime period somewhere presumably in Europe?), and towards the middle the author starts to veer into a lot of telling of the plot rather than showing.

In a historical setting, this book is basically a “normal girl falls into magical world” type of story. Not my cup of tea and totally different versus what I expected from the book description.

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

So, we've got another one of those stories where a woman gets abducted by some hot, morally gray fae dude. I know, I know, it's been done before. But hey, this one was actually a good read!
I feel like the characters in these stories are often so blinded by how hot the kidnapper is that they don't care that they've been kidnapped, which makes ZERO sense to me. Like sure, he's hot, BUT HE KIDNAPPED YOU? But our FMC, Verve, actually wants to go home to her family. And get this, she still wants to go back after the first chapter. Even though the dude is hot.
I have a weak spot for whimsical settings and this one hit the jackpot for me with a cool magic system, musical grass, doors that skitter across the walls, and trees with names. Overall, a refreshing take on a tired trope.

While the book did have some surprises up its sleeve, I felt like I was missing some of the setup leading up to certain moments. Maybe I was just reading it too fast or something, but at times it felt like the twists came on too fast without any build-up.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

This is very similar to ACOTAR. Girl kidnapped by a fae noble, locked in his home, rescued by the most powerful fae and coerced into a bond, a sister that fae glamour doesn't work on, a ritual turning her into a fae, arcane sentient items that talk to her, etc.

Unfortunately, Verve is extremely annoying. Apparently she's modeled after some character from Little Women, which I've never read. Doesn't matter. This chick is entirely disinterested in listening to anyone or learning about the world she's in. She has a short temper, gets easily upset, and constantly slows down the story with her reluctance to do anything. I swear, half the book is her being stubborn just because, and the other half her being in denial. She is obsessed with going home despite constant reminders that she looks fae and would scare the shit out of people, and that her presence would lure people to harm her family. I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time because of how much I disliked her. She's supposed to be the clever one in her family, but she's so goddamn stupid all the time. Especially about the key, which she only notices about fifty times.

A plot is inherently flawed when it relies on a character being impulsive and petulant. That might work for a child, but Verve is an adult. Her uncanny ability to make things worse for everyone made me sympathize with her captors ongoing efforts to restrain her.

<spoiler>Fenn tells her multiple times that she needs to learn to control her power, which she outright refuses to do at first. He cautions her repeatedly to be careful. She refuses to believe the dreams she has are real, ignores Fenn's concern that Dacre knows about their marriage and will act against them, and then carelessly uses her power to knock Fenn unconcious. Her response? "Huh, that's strange." I swear to god... the ending makes me to pull my hair out. She wakes him up and they have fade-to-black sex (no complaints, it would probable be a bunch of virginal blushing), she wanders around naked looking for sewing supplies, then someone very obviously posing as Fenn shows up. She forgot about her father's warning about fae disguises, the thing that literally started the story. Some other nonsense happens.</spoiler>


To be fair, Verve <i>is</i> put through a lot. Drugging, kidnapping, confinement, physical and emotional abuse. A lot of people wouldn't act rationally after all that, but Verve is the heroine of a fantasy story.

I'd like to end with an announcement. We have a new term of art in the faerie romance genre: she-fae.

75 times. No he-fae at all.

A very basic “normal girl falls into magical world” type of story. Quite forgetful and not my cup of tea.

Thank you for this amazing opportunity. I found this to be refreshing and exciting. I enjoyed the story the pacing and writing style of the author as well as the world that she created.

thank you to netgalley, the publisher and author for this arc.

3 stars.

this book started off pretty slowly, and it took some time to get into. only at about the halfway point did i feel like things were finally happening, which isn't all that bad because i do love it when authors take their time with books, but it was in such contrast to the second half that i need to point it out. and the ending, it felt so rushed, i'm almost sad to say it. considering it already was going to be a series, why try to wrap it up so quickly? it left me a little disappointed.

lots of people have mentioned it before, but there is somewhat of a similarity between this book and the first in the acotar series. at first i thought, "man, people say this way too quickly", but in this case, i just can't deny it. there were many similar aspects. and it's okay, you know? it's not a new concept, certainly not something invented by sjm, but still. it kinda made this book more predictable. maybe that's just me having read one too many fantasy books. but okay.

so yes, overall, this book certainly wasn't bad. and despite my review leaning more on the negative aspects, i also enjoyed a large part of it. like that second half, up until the ending? i ate it UP. and would i read the second book? yes, perhaps.

There were so many things in this book I enjoyed. I read it in one sitting and once I got through the first 2 pages that I was a little bored during I was totally sucked in.

- It totally subverted my expectations of tropes I thought we were getting into and I really enjoyed having the little twists that proved me wrong.
- I thought the pacing of this book was a great speed, it kept the plot moving without being so fast that I felt like I was losing details.
- It was the perfect blend of Romance and Fantasy for me. A solid romance started without sacrificing any of the plot.
- For a book that comes in under 300 pages it carries throughout

This does have a romance that has a lot of build up for a closed door scene.