Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me access this book!

The entire time I was reading this, I felt like I had started in the middle of a book and was missing a ton of important information for the story to make sense. The characters were interesting but we never get to know any real details about any of their backgrounds (everyone lies) and the characters lack depth as a result. Also, it takes so long for the plot points to come together, that I probably wouldn’t have finished this if I hadn’t been on a flight with limited options.

This book was such a breath of fresh air. What an absolute joy to read. This story and setting was everything l've been looking for lately. A dark fairytale fantasy setting, super atmospheric and creepy woods/castle and a world that is so full of different types of terrors that you don't necessarily want to live IN it but certainly want to know more about it. I hope Jelena releases more books set in this world. I am hooked.

In this captivating fantasy romance, the author weaves a beautifully intricate world filled with magic, adventure, and an undeniable chemistry between the protagonists. From the very first page, readers are drawn into a richly imagined landscape where the stakes are high, and love transcends boundaries.

The characters are delightfully complex, each facing their own trials and transformations. Their journey is not just about romance; it’s about self-discovery and the courage to embrace one’s true self. The chemistry between them crackles with tension, making every shared moment feel electric and deeply meaningful.

The plot is expertly crafted, balancing moments of heart-pounding action with tender, intimate scenes that linger long after the book is closed. The author’s lyrical prose brings the settings to life, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the beauty and danger of this enchanting world.

Overall, this book is a delightful escape that deftly combines elements of fantasy and romance. It’s a testament to the power of love and the strength found in vulnerability. Perfect for fans of the genre, it’s a story that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a magical journey of the heart!

Dark Woods, Deep Water is a hard book to review. Did I like it? I don't think so. But it was beautifully written, and the stories wove amongst each other in pretty patterns. However, I struggled to follow the story in some places and found myself feeling forced to finish it. I think it will be a very beloved and much enjoyed book for some readers, just not for me.

Now, this is a book that delivers on its premise: a dark fantasy inspired by Slavic mythology that includes vengeful gods, unrequited love and mysterious castles.


Jelena expertly tells the story through 3 different characters who all stand apart from each yet all feel lovable, no mattter their sometimes questionable actions. Elisya is probably the one I would circle out as the character that people easily would find annoying: vapid, naive, and very much in love with the idea of having a big romance. Yet she is also confined by her father's heavy hand, underappreciated and determined to push through. The tragedy of her story, of (literally) being unable to grow from her past mistakes resonated with me and made her a great character to follow.
Ida is an archetype I will always love, the street kid who had to grew up to soon and cons her way through life. I appreciated that her characterization leaned heavily into her desire for money, her willingness to lie and cheat, and her uncanny ability to twist a situation in her favor. It also sets apart in that most of her relationships are more practical and goal-orientated; unliked Elisya she has no interest in romance and is trusts no one to have her best interest at heart.
Our last protagonist is Telani, a soldier turned secretary, who is journeying with the prince and local hero, and get turned around when their new, unwanted travel companion runs away from them. He felt like an odd choice at first but I came to love his perspective on his aging Lord whom he loves so much, their role in the kingdom and trials and tribulations they had survived to only find themselves yet again ensnared by powers beyond their control.
All of their stories collide when they enter the castle grounds.

And what a story this is. We see the world through three different eyes as we slowly uncover the mystery that lurks behind the castle doors and in its inhabitants. The atmosphere throughout is Gothic, a little oppressive and definitely fitting for the setting. Its final resolution is bittersweet yet utterly fitting for our cast.
I also want to say that Dunato captures my favourite types of deities: often more stories and reality, appearances that feel Just Off in some way, and meddling in ways we cannot fully comprehend.


(I saw on Jelena's Twitter that she is working on a sequel and I am excited to see more of this world (and possibly the characters, too?) and I am also hoping we are getting more overt queer vibes next time. The hints were great but more please!)

This was a bit slow and confusing in the beginning. But the story overall was interesting, I loved that we got 3 different pov.

At the start, this whole thing was honestly more than just a little confusing.
It was for a while. With no idea how the narratives of the different characters fit together and no connection in sight. Different times, different people, different places.
And it stays that way for a while.
Until they finally connect, more than halfway through the book.
And it's not like everything before suddenly makes sense, it's still just three lifelines that end up in tha same fate.
But god, that fate is interesting, unnerving, fascinating.
I am a little sad that this very interesting part only made up so little of the story, but it makes sense, somewhat. It's not like that makes it any less enjoyable.

All in all, a good book, even if I would have hoped for things to happen sooner... or to focus on one character more, since the constant switching didn't really allow me to form a connection to any of them.

This was a quick read and a very enjoyable one. I was immediately interested in the characters although I could predict most everything that happened.

I thought the ending was rushed and didn’t do justice to how the characters had been fleshed out at the beginning of the book.

I will try more titles by the author.

FAVORITE QUOTE: “Even the happiest of endings are unhappy for someone.”

An interesting book with a nice plot and engaging characters. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for an advanced Readers Copy!

I was super curious about this book but I know the kind of fantasy I like and I should've known better when I requested this ARC. To me, personally, it felt like one of those books you finish and you wont think about it again.
The plot is original and I think the author did a great job developing it... but it wasnt for me.

This has started a bit slow, and I was afraid I was going to be confused with the names and timelines but oh no. This was a really engaging story that had the fantasy elements the plot line promised. I wasn’t able to see it right away, but the first one third of the book prepared you, setting you up with the world and the characters as much as possible, and then the story truly began and I very much enjoyed it.

If you like fantasy and folklore, which I realize with every folkloric story I read that I do, check this one out. It is a story that keeps you on edge, and makes you feel so wary traipsing through the pages with these characters.

And it has a very pretty cover too. Those who like the genre, and have the luxury to own a physical copy won’t regret it, I’m sure.

3.5/5 overall. This is a book replete with dark, menacing atmosphere, and it absolutely hit the spot when I read it. I think the author’s writing is quite strong overall, both in the sense that her prose is quite evocative and in the sense that each character’s perspective is written distinctly and effectively.

In addition to the gloomy, oppressive, haunting atmosphere, I think the character work is another success. The three perspectives are all interesting in and of themselves, to be sure. Ida, a poor rogue who gets trapped in a heist by bad men, is incredibly smart and resourceful, and I wanted her to be okay so badly!! Mercenary-turned-secretary Telani is engaging too, especially because of his extremely understated relationship with his prince master and that relationship’s impact towards the end. Spoiled noble girl Elisya seems to be the most controversial of the three, and I understand why - she careens from one bad decision to another and is very naive and selfish. For me, this is more a reflection on how she was raised by a terrible father to be a useless, ignorant, and decorative wife than a personal indictment of her. Queen Orsiana more or less voices this perspective directly after Elisya is caught in her affair, and it helped me view her more sympathetically. The book notes how she is at once a victim and a victimizer who could be doing more to support the abused servants in the castle, which I thought was a nuanced touch.

The first half puts all the pieces in place for each character to arrive at the cursed castle where they will be trapped in the second half, and unfortunately I don’t think the two halves mesh together very well overall. The pacing changes dramatically, and a lot of plot points get resolved very quickly. I am also not entirely clear about why the curse’s resolution had to work out in as convoluted a way as it did, why the gods had to intervene as obliquely as they did, and why so much time passed before the situation was resolved. That being said, the second half of the book features its most evocative writing and some truly grim imagery that I enjoyed a lot.

I’ll also mention that there is a great deal of rape in this book. Ida’s perspective in particular is interesting because of how she seems to see being used by men as an inevitably that she does not spend a lot of time thinking about beyond a survival/strategy standpoint. Part of me really wishes that her ending could have been different - it is definitely practical that she secures her future by seducing a clueless wealthy man, but I couldn’t help but want more for her. Then again, the tone of this book is fairly bleak overall and the other characters’ endings are bittersweet at best, so maybe it is fitting. There are definitely hints at a sequel in Telani’s ending. If so, I will absolutely be interested in checking it out due to this book’s uniqueness and strengths.

I’m a massive folklore, dark fantasy, and Gothic lit geek, and Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato is a fulfilling and atmospheric blend of all three.!

Dunato’s story draws inspiration from Slavic folklore. We have three perspectives: an aging prince on his last adventure, a young woman who falls into the trap of romanticizing legends, and an almost-brigand just making an attempt at surviving the world. None of the three MCs are connected in any way, but a hungry goddess of Death brings them together and imprisons them in an illusioned castle in a haunted wood.

The hold of the castle seeps in slowly throughout most of the book and you’re in the midst of a Gothic nightmare before you even fully realize it. The writing is quality, and I enjoyed how it went from feeling like an innocent, simple folk tale to a dark, Gothic horror fantasy. Very impressed by this debut and would absolutely recommend for fans of Naomi Novik, Katherine Arden, and Hannah Whitten.

A gothic fairy tale masterpiece, Dark Woods, Deep Water, will grip you in its talons and not let you go until the intense conclusion where death gets her due.

Full review here:

https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book-review-dark-woods-deep-water-by-jelena-dunato/

I really wanted to love this. It sounds so good and eerie. But I felt like it took too long for the POV characters to make sense together, and it definitely took too long to get to the enchanted castle.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

It took me a while to get into this - well past pub date, unfortunately. The big ok starts slow, building the characters and world of three separate povs before finally bringing them together well over 50% of the book. This led to a lot pages of wondering where this was going. Everyone felt too separate. Especially the one character whose story took place 40 years in the past.

The resulting meet up was messy. No one was entirely good. The explanation of what was really going on in the castle felt slightly underdeveloped. It was bad. People died. I think it was a sacrifice? The marriage of one pov character didn't lead anywhere. Why did they need to get married at all? It felt like a reason to put her in the story and tell what happened to her husband and how he became a monster, although I thought he was a monster before so??? A little confused there.

The ending was nice. Neat and quickly wrapped up. It could have been expanded for a little more satisfaction and less out of the blue whiplash.

All in all, this a richly built world with interesting, complex characters. As it's a debut, it would be cool if there were more books in this world or possibly sequels. I hope to see more of this author.

While I enjoyed this dark fantasy, the pacing and time jumps had the plot difficult to follow. All 5e characters were well developed as was the haunted, creepy settings.

Dark Fantasy, Multiple POV, Slavic folklore, Secrets & Betrayal

I’ll preface this by saying I truly wanted to love Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. My family is Slovakian and rarely do I get to read fantasy featuring Slavic folklore—let alone the goddess Morana, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to find out how poorly structured the story was.

The story is so focused on establishing each of the main characters’ backstories that it bogs down the pacing and it takes half of the book to even get to the castle mentioned in the blurb. Then the second half proceeds to go at breakneck speed without taking the time to build up suspense and dread.

This felt like such a missed opportunity to me!

Maybe it’s because I’m so used to reading gothic fiction, but, for me, the story would have been more compelling if we had reached the castle within the first third before gradually learning more about the characters and the castle’s true sinister nature.

On top of that, the worldbuilding felt thread-bare to me—especially for a fantasy set in a secondary world. We get vague mentions of a university and that the character Elisya might be descended from rusalka, but, other than that, we don’t get a clear idea of the world, its history, or customs and I wish that had been fleshed out more in order to better immerse readers.

Overall, the story unfortunately suffers from serious pacing issues and could have spent longer in developmental editing.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ghost Orchid Press, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is about a castle in the woods that lures people to their deaths. The Goddess Morana feeds on the suffering and death. She longs for one death above all others, someone that wronged her long ago.

I liked the creepy castle and haunted forest vibes, however, even at 274 pages, I thought this was too long. It dragged in quite a few spots.

I, a South Slavic person from the Balkans, am always craving fantasy/gothic/horror books written by actual Slavic authors and I finally got that here, please put your hands together for a round of applause!!!

So imagine my delight when I not only got the arc, but also opened it to see titles like Gospa, Gospodar, Knez and Vlastelin inside. It might not mean much to a non-Slavic reader, but I got an extra kick out of it every time someone's title was used, because it worked so well.

Morana was the main featured Goddess here, but I loved seeing other Slavic Gods and Goddesses get a mention (or appearance) too. And I also loved how well the elements they control were used in the story.

Said story was extremely captivating, like a fairytale. In part this is due to the beautiful writing which made me feel like I was sitting down in front of a warm fire, listening to someone spin a tale from long ago.

There's three PoVs in the story, each interesting in their own way. Ida's ended up being my favourite, despite Elisya's starting off as such (I know!). Because I felt like Ida was the most interesting of the three, and I desperately wanted her to be the one to survive the night.

Elisya changed as the story went on, I wanted her to live out her main character dreams, but sadly it was not meant to be. I somehow thought she'd change for the better though, not worse.

Telani got the least amount of chapters, especially during the second half, and I wasn't sure what to make of him until the very end where I started to like him. So I wish his time to shine came a bit sooner, because he's a pretty cool character.

I also liked Tinka, Orsiana and Prince Amron.

I DID NOT like Volk, but with a name like that he deserves a special mention. I was just waiting for him to turn into a werewolf and devour everything and everyone in sight...which isn't too far from the truth.

Him being who he was, and performing that wedding ceremony was so funny to me, but in a dark way. Like yeah obviously there's no one else in an enchanted castle deep in the sentient woods who could do it, but still!

I *think* this is a standalone, but I'd love a sequel or novella where we follow the characters who survived, even the side ones, because there's a lot more story to tell.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes their fantasy a bit darker, or more on the gothic side with a pinch of horror, and particularly to other Slavic readers because this is a story that was written for us.

That's not to say you shouldn't give it a chance if you're not Slavic, please, PLEASE do, I'm just saying that I think it hits harder when you already know the mythology and Gods, grew up with them etc. There's little things here and there you'll catch while reading that will feel like coming home.

P. S. Pay attention to the years in each chapter, they're important!!

*Huge thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*