I really enjoyed this story! I love books about historic buildings that may or may not be hiding something sinister. The atmosphere was creepy and filled me with dread throughout the whole book. The description of this book is a mix of Rosemary’s Baby and Salem’s Lot and I think it was spot on!

Thank you to @tornightfire and @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

There were some things I really liked about this book. The main character's relationship to her disability is nuanced and evolves throughout the narrative, and the way it impact's the reader's awareness of the physical space in which the action is taking place is excellent. The Jewish take on monsters is interesting and a welcome departure from Christianity-focused vampire/monster lore. The real standout though is the theme of motherhood. Ana's mixed feelings about being a mother, the claustrophobia of caretaking, the literal physical toll that motherhood has taken on her, and most of all her decision at the end are all thoughtfully woven into a cohesive whole.

However, my problem with the narrative overall is that there is a lack of cohesion of the dramatic/horror elements. In terms of the horror, it feels like there are too many thematic elements that don't quite gel. Reid's turn, as well, despite being forecast by his ingratiation into the monsters' social circle and his growing resentment toward Ana, still feels extreme. I think all of this affects the pacing, as no one scene felt overlong but it still felt at times like the action was stalled. I had a good time reading this but I was left wishing that it hung together better.

Nestlings is a dread inducing and creepy read and I loved every second of it! Right after I read Mary I knew Nat Cassidy would be an author I would continue reading and I wasn't wrong. This book is EXCELLENT!

The description of this book states that it’s like a combo of Rosemary’s Baby with Salem’s Lot and that is absolutely true!

I loved this.

The book gives you this sense of palpable dread from the first few pages and doesn’t let up. Instead, it amps up into an intense and creepy read!

Oh, I felt for Ana! Not only is everything that happens so dreadful and scary for her, but her paralysis just adds to the horror.

Honestly, you need to read this one. It’s a sharp horror novel that just hits!

Five well deserved stars!

• ARC via Publisher

I have mixed feelings. The book did a really good job of creating atmosphere and building a sense of unease, but the pacing felt a little weird to me. Some chapters had my eyes glued to the page and others were a slog to get through.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Incredible spin on the vampire mythos. Claustrophobic with an escalating sense of dread. I’ve come to appreciate Cassidy’s ability to have flawed characters that blare harsh truths about ourselves. A fantastic follow up to ‘Mary’!

Thank you Netgalley and Tor publishing for the opportunity to review this book

This was my first Nat Cassidy book and it did NOT disappoint. The representation- Judaism, disabilities, motherhood, grief etc.. in this book is on point, and it adds to the horror very well. The amount of trauma the characters went through made me feel for them and they were written exceptionally. Nat wrote this book from experience and it shows.
He wrote the setting perfectly and made me literally shiver. The explanations for how and why things were the way they were.. it was very intriguing and unsettling.
The most taboo things of motherhood was implemented incredibly and spot on. It was validating to say the least and reading “glorified” motherhood.

I definitely will be reading Mary and I am so happy to have read The Nestlings

I received Nestlings by Nat Cassidy (@catnassidy ) via NetGalley.

I was a huge fan of Mary:An Awakening Of Terror, so when I saw this pop up in my NetGalley feed I jumped on it so fast. And I thankfully got approved 🙌🏻

Nestlings is a mix of Rosemary’s Baby and Salem’s Lot.

Reid and Ana have been through a lot, so when they win a coveted apartment in the famous Deptford building, they hope their luck has taken a turn for the better. But not all is as it seems. Ana and Reid’s worst nightmare May just be getting started.

This book is horrifying in all right ways. Let me tell you that the bug aspect of this book was seeping into my real life. I kept feeling like things were crawling on me.

The book also features such an original take on vampires. I’ve never seen them portrayed this way. I think it made them even more horrifying.

This book is definitely gory, so keep that in mind before starting it. I would highly suggest looking up content warnings (the book nicely has them at the beginning) before picking this one up.

I gave this book five creepy gargoyles out of five.

Catch this book when it releases on October 31, 2023 (Halloween 🎃)

A truly horrifying novel from an author to watch.
When Ana and Reid win a lottery to move into the Deptford, they think it’s fate. Their young child, Charlie, could use the extra space to grow up in, and it certainly helps that they won’t have to live with their awful landlord anymore.

However, their excitement turns to dread when they realize the place isn’t exactly what they had anticipated it to be. Instead of a saving grace, it’s a living nightmare.

Told from a Jewish perspective of vampire lore, this was a really intriguing read. I hope Nat has many more books to come! His afterward was especially moving.

I have almost no idea how to review this book. The writing is exceptional, and I appreciated the disability representation, Jewish rep, and other elements very much. Some of the plot choices left me with my eyebrows raised all the way to my hairline, though. It's a weird book, in the end, that harks back to vintage Stephen King (minus the sexism, tacit racism, etc.). Content warning for intense antisemitism (very challenged/punched), postpartum depression, and a lot of other stuff (that IIRC is mentioned at the beginning of the book, which is much appreciated).

Step into the Deptford, if you dare! Equally parts ROSEMARY’S BABY and ‘SALEM’S LOT, NESTLINGS takes the vampire trope and spins it on its fangs! I was squirming with shivers and reading this from behind the safety my fingers!

If you read Mary and love it, you are in for a treat! The growth of writing and imagination has grown so much with this novel. I will be hand selling this book like crazy this fall!

Rosemary’s Baby meets Salem’s Lot in this urban horror set in an exclusive New York City residential building. After the insanely traumatizing birth of their child, that left Ana paralyzed, Reid and Ana needed a lucky break. And they got one when they won a housing lottery and got to move into one of Manhattan’s most revered buildings, The Deptford. But there’s a price to pay for all “good” things…

I was very intrigued by the creepy cover and the synopsis, but sadly, I couldn’t finish this novel, I stopped reading at 51% in.

Firstly, from what I read, this novel is very low on horror. It is mainly about the very long, very sad inner monologues of our main characters. It definitely made me more sad than scared. I felt terrible for Ana and everything she was going through. Unexpected disability may just be a personal trigger, but being in Ana’s head during that time was rough. In general we were in both of the main characters heads too much, to the point where it got boring because nothing was happening in the story. Nothing will happen for chapters and then right when you’re ready to give up reading, the story gives you a TINY bit of something intriguing to make you think something is gonna happen soon, but still nothing happens. I would still kinda like to know what happened at the end, but not enough to read through 49% more of nothing progressing the story. I was highly excited for this, so I really wish I had liked it.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this arc! All opinions are my own.

TW: death of a parent, Covid related death, racism, use of a homophobic slur, antisemitism, ableism, suicidal ideation, postpartum depression

Mary: An Awakening of Terror was one of my top reads last year. It was nuts, like nuts-nuts. It was an insane mix of genres, which made it stand out against other horror novels. Nestlings is another insane mix of different horror tropes/vibes. But, in terms of how nutty it is compared to Mary, it is a bit milder but still insane. It’s only nuts. It isn’t nuts-nuts. It falls more into the same narrative as other horror novels. I feel like this will give it a better reception than Mary. It won’t be as controversial and have such visceral (pun intended) reactions.

The description of this book labels it as a mix of Rosemary’s Baby and ‘Salem’s Lot. I would go further and add The Shining. Is there an evil group of people afoot? Check! Is there human on the menu for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner? Check! Is there an emotionally susceptible husband available who’s vulnerable to Gods know what because he knows what’s best for his family? Check! Jack Torrance has entered the chat.

Things I Liked about this book:
The New York setting
The Deptford (All I could picture was building in Ghostsbusters. I just knew Gozer the Gozerian was somewhere nearby.)
Tons of rep: disability, post-partum, new mothers, emotional abuse, mental health
Involved life during and post Covid

Things I Loved about this book:
The main characters
The writing
The themes

Ana and Reid are a complete mess. They are a complete mess individually and an ever bigger mess when put together. Once they had a great life even if they didn’t see that for themselves. Then multiple tragedies struck in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. And, taadaa!! Stress plus trauma equals lives are changed, and there is a new normal. To make matters worse for their marriage, they have fallen into the pitfall of not talking to each other because everyone is fragile. This makes them ripe for the picking to all the shenanigans in the plot of this book.

Let’s get into the themes and the writing in this book. I believe they go hand in hand because good writing makes good storytelling. Good storytelling produces good themes. The author's writing is creatively fluid but also contains moments of sheer panic and insanity. When reading, I can feel myself riding the waves of inflection. There are clear moments of slight upward momentum and slight downward slides. Imagine riding on a drifting sail boat (no motors involved). Then, imagine that boat taking a hard left after you’ve started reclining and closing your eyes to the gentle rocking. That’s how this author writes. It’s very balanced and helps to keep your attention throughout the entire novel. There were no dull moments, not even in the setup. This made it easy for the themes to stand out.

Things that were pure gold aka the themes:
We Don’t Belong Here
Bittersweet; bitter and sweet
Know Your Home; Know You’re Home
Motion is lotion
Stay loose
What does it mean to be a mother?

The icing on the cake of this book is all the little details thrown in like Ana’s wandering mind when thinking about how Frank and Cathy would get along. Made me laugh out loud.

5/5 “white-lady locs”

By the way, I can NEVER look at Goliath the same way AGAIN!

The story follows Ana and Reid, a young couple who are first-time parents and in the throes of unforeseen trauma and hardships — a horrific complication during labor left Ana paralyzed — but their luck appears to be changing when they’re offered residence at a historic luxury apartment complex in NYC.

This book is so good. The entire time I was reading it I kept wondering how he comes up with this stuff and was struck by how some people’s creativity seems to know no bounds. And then, in the afterword, he offers an explanation that was like a beautiful, emotional gut punch and that made the story even more profound.

Nat Cassidy’s ability to take personal experiences that are incredibly traumatic and channel it into a brilliant mashup of a “horror-fied” version of his life while also paying homage to classic horror stories and films is nothing short of brilliant.

I loved MARY: AN AWAKENING OF TERROR and NESTLINGS is an equally outstanding book. It’s layered, complicated, and is written in a way that effortlessly flows. It’s visceral at times, unique, and scary as hell! Where MARY had me scared to leave my shower curtain open for a few days, NESTLINGS will have me questioning why I chose a home with so many windows.

I love Nat Cassidy’s brand of horror and cannot wait to read more from him in the future.

Reviews

Nat fucking Cassidy did it again folks. Nestlings was nothing like I expected it to be but turns out it was everything I needed it to be. The way Nat can capture the core of characters like Ana (previously Mary too) is impressive. He really puts you in their heads and you see all the ugly pretty scary gross things that come with it.

As much as I love Ana and Reid (kinda), the Deptford is the star of the show. I don’t want to spoil it but iykyk.

Great job all around. Now I have to wait till October for my pre-ordered physical copy!

Thanks Net Galley and Tor Nightfire for the Arc!

Loved it! This felt like old school horror. I see a lot of comparisons to The Shining, American horror story and Rosemary’s Baby and I do see that but what kept popping into my head was Society.

It’s just this great mix of 70’s horror tropes with a fresh twist, disturbing imagery and mounting tension. It also explores grief, trauma and feelings of helplessness in a very raw and relatable way.

An unflinching portrait of loss and some truly horrific circumstances, this book will get under your skin.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

This story follows a young couple who, after a period of bad luck, finally get a break and a chance at a fresh start in a beautiful new apartment. They soon find out that if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. Their new apartment building isn't all it appears to be, and it wants their baby.

This book hooked me right away and I loved it! Cassidy knocks another one out of the park!

As someone who very recently read Rosemary’s Baby for the first time, I can say without a doubt that this is the perfect spin on that story. It’s unique and holds its own while also holding on to exactly what made RB terrifying- being completely helpless in your family’s ultimate demise.
Unfortunately, I’ll never be able to look at a gargoyle again, but such is life.