Holy hell, what a trip! This book was intense. The gore and morbid parts of this book are so good. I was not expecting the darkness that was this book.

The curling iron...need I say more? And a Disney princess, but make her sick, twisted and dark.

The twists and turns are both unexpected and shocking. My jaw dropped no less than a few times. That ending had me rooting for the mc and hoping she could have it all. But alas, she can't. The end was sad but satisfying.

Thank you for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book. I really loved this one!

This was one of the most fantastic, weird, "stream of consciousness" novels that shed light into the mind of Maeve, whose psychopathic ramblings make her a strange female comparison to Joe Goldberg - the man who is objectively bad, and yet you can't help but be drawn in. Maeve is so similar - her actions, her murders, her disconnect from reality, and yet she cares so much about the care of her grandmother and Lester the cat, that she can sometimes be a sympathetic character.

Alongside the ramblings, there is the developing relationship with Gideon, who doesn't seem surprised or turned off by Maeve's sadistic actions, and even encourages her over the top obsession with Halloween and all things gaunt and ghoulish.

Although it is an adjustment to follow the story in some times, the narrator perfectly portrays the amped up emotions and darkness of Maeve.

HOLY COW

I don’t know how to describe this.

Horror porn? Horror & Porn?

Dislikable, depraved, sadistic, female MC.

Like serial killer stories? Sexual torture? Body horror? A character study of the Hollywood crowd. Yeahp

A lot of horrific moments & the MC isn’t the best representation of positive mental health.

Unique. Shock factor might be a little excessive? Gratuitous, maybe but it gets the point across.

While the MC explains her torture, most of the actual torture happens off screen.

SO many trigger warnings.

You’ve been warned. Be careful!

Good ending!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audible for expanding my mind.

Publication Day 6/6/2023.

Maeve Fly is written to shock. I'm OK with that. If it leads somewhere. There didn't seem much point outside of shock in this book. Maeve is a princess, professionally, and where she works is obvious. The park and the city are exaggerated in order to possibly make Maeve's decisions make some kind of sense. They don't. It just never got beyond shock. And, weirdly, I wasn't shocked.

Maeve is a popular Disney Princess of the Norwegian variety at the happiest place in the world, in Southern California. She is beautiful, smart and loves all things Halloween. Underneath her innocent facade Maeve has a dark side. She learns how to manage her Inner wolf and keep it sated by spending her nights in dive bars on the Sunset Strip, that is until she meets Gideon, her best friends brother. Gideon sees the darkness in Maeve and is drawn to it, She also finds herself drawn to his darkness and begins to let the nice girl facade slip away into a bloody, tortuous nightmare.

This book was wild!! Let’s start with the cover, it sets the tone and lets the reader know exactly what is in store for them. This story is not for the squeamish..it is brutal, gory, graphic and utterly delightful. Regardless of the brutality and violence this is a well written story that will stay with me for a while. Fans of American Psycho will love this book. What a great debut from an author that I will be looking forward to reading in the future.

The audiobook was narrated by Sosie Bacon and was flawless. A perfect narrator for this pulse stopping thrill ride.

5 ⭐️

#NetGalley #MaeveFly #CJLeede

Writing: 5/5
Character Development: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Audio: 5/5

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual Content

Themes: Horror

Maeve Fly is about a girl who lives with her sick grandmother and is trying to find out who she really is. She is obsessed with Halloween and everything dark and all she wants out of life is to keep the two most important people in her life. But everything threatens to change when she meets her best friends hockey playing brother. This story really was something different. The writing was really well done and I loved the narrator and how she was able to bring you into the story. I wish the ending was a little different but overall I did enjoy it. It has many undertones of American Psyco and if you liked that movie you will like this book.

I received an audiobook arc and am leaving an honest review.

I'm really unsure how to review this and frankly I had a hard time finishing it.

The first 75% is pretty standard for a horror book in terms of violence/dark thoughts etc. Maeve has always known she was different but tries to bury it deep inside, after being advised by her grandmother that people won't like the "wolf" in her. She works at Disneyland, a place she has always loved, as one of the people in costumes greeting guests. But then she meets her friend's brother Gideon, and finally thinks she has found a kindred spirit. Together they start to act out in increasingly disturbing ways, unleashing the real Maeve.

But then it really crossed a line for me in the last 25% to the point that I had to skip entire chapters because listening to the scenes play out was making me nauseated. I'm sure some people are fine with this level of violence but to me it was basically torture porn and it's the reason I can't give this more than 3 stars.

Thank you netgalley and Macmillan audio for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A serial killer Disney prince, what more could you ask for? This book was f*cking INSANE! The author was not afraid to go there.

I had a fun and wild time with this one. Maeve was such a unique and disturbing character. You literally had no idea what she was going to do next. And the gore was fantastic! The audiobook narrator fit the roll of Maeve perfectly for me.

My only problem was the ending. I wanted better for Maeve but that’s just a personal opinion. I completely understand what the author was doing. I was just hoping lol.

Overall I really had a fun time reading Maeve Fly. I would recommend this one to anyone into extreme horror. This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s extremely disturbing and messed up.
3/5 Stars

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

Maeve Fly Review!

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this gifted audio book, in exchange for an honest review! Maeve Fly is out June 6, 2023!

As soon as I found out that this was about a female American Psycho in Disneyland, I had to request it!! Maeve Fly was a 4/5 ⭐️ for me! Disney and horror, a match made in Heaven for me. 😂 This book is not for the weak of heart. I couldn’t tell you how many times I shuddered at some of this body horror. 😳 The story line felt a little choppy for me at times. It seemed like something was missing. Otherwise this one was creepy. I loved how it was set during Halloween and that ending was pretty shocking!

Synopsis: During the day Maeve works as a Princess at the happiest place on earth. At night though, she isn’t afraid to let out her dark side.

This is a pretty decent debut from CJ Leede. I think my one huge critique is that it tries too hard to be too literary. If it didn't take itself a little too seriously, this would actually be a great gory, slasher novel that dives into the human psyche, while also posing as a love letter to Los Angeles.

What I loved about this novel were the MC, Maeve, and the other characters. They were very well-developed and quite distinctive when it came to their quirks and personalities.

And the ending! That was definitely worth sticking around for.

The narrator, Sosie Bacon, was the perfect fit for Maeve. She was equal parts sarcastic and disaffected. I'd love to listen to more audiobooks from her.

And my dislikes: This novel was almost a DNF for me. It took around the 30% mark for any action to start happening. Anything before that felt unnecessarily vulgar. I stuck around because I was waiting for the premise to really deliver. I was glad when things started rolling around the 60% mark. After that, it was a nonstop gorefest.

Another issue I had was the lack of contractions. It made the story feel really stilted and unnatural. I understand that it makes Maeve really stand out as a psychopathic character, but if the writing was more natural and flowed better, then Maeve would also work well as a character that came off as "normal" instead of someone trying too hard to be unique.

Overall, I wouldn't mind picking up another one of CJ Leede's works in the future.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

I don't know that I will ever be able to think of a soft boiled egg the same again....

I really thought the concept for this book was interesting. A girl works at an unnamed theme park (Disney) as a princess by day and is a killer by night. However, a lot of the content in this book felt like it was there to be "edgy" or to add an unnecessary shock value.

After the first couple of chapters, I had to look up the author because I could have sworn this was written by a man. The energy in this book is very sexual and Maeve seems to only be able to identify people by their sexual attributes.

I'm completely fine with violence, gore, and general horror elements but this was something different. I feel like I don't need to read about the various ways the protagonist wants to destroy someone from the inside out. I found myself being very uncomfortable in a way that I usually don't when it comes to horror books.

I listened to the audiobook and I will say it was fun to listen to and Sosie Bacon did a fantastic job as the narrator.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I'm not sure how to proceed with this review. The individual characters were either likeable or loathsome, which I find to be a positive thing when reading new authors. The delineation between the two was done in an interesting and humorous way. Very entertaining.
The plot showed some promise but was marred by unwarranted grotesque sexuality. Perhaps it was meant to put the book into the erotic horror genre, but I felt like it was forced or out of place. I'm not sure how to mesh these things into an agreeable story, but it was a little stretched.
I look forward to reading more from this author. I really enjoy horror and love to see new faces in this crowd.

Loved this crazy ride of a novel! Maeve Fly is almost a dual personality. She spends her days as an ice princess at the Happiest Place on Earth, and her nights prowling the Sunset Strip, giving into her basest desires. Maeve starts to think she can have it all when she meets Gideon, her best friend's brother, but her firing and beloved grandmother's death, descends her into madness at an alarming rate. I can see where the comparison to Patrick Bateman might come from, but Maeve is by far smarter and more sinister. Just fair warning: there is A LOT of graphic description of sex and violence. But somehow, you end up admiring Maeve just anyway. There's a refreshing honesty to her craziness. I wish this had been longer.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Raw and animalistic, this is off-balance violence within a beautiful princess. It is a shocking “FUCK YOU!” to normalcy, pain, and death.
I am in absolute awe of Maeve Fly, knowing full well that I would hate her in real life because I would be jealous of how amazing she is.
This book is filled with intelligent quotes that are causally spit out and feign indifference. A bombastic parade of American Psycho dressed up as the theme park Princess of Depravity.
The audio was magnificent. @sosiebacon nailed the narration making it feel like Maeve herself was telling you her story. Sosie pulls the anguish and the anger from within the story but still makes Maeve seem nonchalant and not teetering on a thin balance beam.

Think Deranged Serial Killer Princess who is super into Hockey dudes lol . This read was super fun and I laughed at a lot of the humor. It was also pretty diabolical and at times gory which made it that much better!

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

Grotesque, mind grabbing, awesome listen. I don’t think I’d be able to watch this but listening to it is was doable. The characters were written well and the story was hard to put down.

TW: sexual assault, sexism, animal death, bullying, gory scenes, language, drinking, sex workers, scat, urolagnia, domestic abuse, violence, dying family member, racism, classism, rape

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess. By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet. Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife
Release Date:
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Oh that cover

What I Didn't Like:
1. Starts to feel like an obsession to Story of the Eye
2. Not what it advertised for
3. Not like every girl vibes
4. Maeve
5. 50 mentions of Halloween
6. 37 uses of wolf/14 uses of wolves

Overall Thoughts:
My kind of debauchery soils not only my body and my thoughts, but also . . . the vast starry universe, which merely serves as a backdrop. —GEORGES BATAILLE, STORY OF THE EYE
A quote from the Story of the Eye, a book I hated and was totally messed up 👀.


Is it weird that shortly before reading this book I had acquired Story of the Eye from the library, read it, and hated it. This book feels like one huge obsession of that book so much so that it reads to me like a school report from some teenagers excitement of stumbling onto this book and now it's their whole identity.

This book tries to be over the top extreme but is more dialog than actual shocking things. Yeah, some stuff happen - she poops and pees into a man's mouth but that just seems so random. Even the death scenes are off screen and we just back up with after she's committed the crime and cleaning up. There's another scene where Maeve is threatening to use a curling iron on a girl and turn it on but then that fizzes out and it doesn't happen. What a let down.

It just feels like there are times when the author takes us to the edge of the cliff only to push us back before we fall off. Take us for a leap dear author and don't hold yourself back.

I hated all the characters. Pretentious annoying young people with a main character that thinks she's one of a kind special. Manic pixie girl.

Final Thoughts:
Something is just missing from this book for me. It feels like you're going to get more but like I said before the author holds back. The sex is tame.


I hated Maeve. Maeve is painted as this hardcore woman but she tries way too hard to be cool, weird, and edgy. She causes her own terrible life and then acts bitter against others blaming them for all her stuff. She's not cool. She's annoying. She's the most LA self centered character. She is one of those basic girls that obsessed with Halloween in August. Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in July. So yay to the author that for getting that down.


This book tries so hard to be other books. It reminds me of when you hang out with a girl whose parents don't pay attention to her so she's out to get attention doing all the bad stuff but the bad stuff is just surface level bad.


I think this is a good first start for the author.

The book just takes this weird turn away from what the book says it's about. It paints itself as this story about a Disney princess type that is moonlighting as a killer.

Ends in some kind of Psycho Norman Bates being told what to do through her grandmother. Is any part of this book original?

Recommend For:
• American psycho
• Story of the Eye
• Manic pixie girl lovers

I went into this one blind and had SUCH a good time, so I'm not going to recap the synopsis in any sort of detail. What I will say is this: Maeve is a dark young woman working as a princess at the happiest place on earth, and when things start to slip from her control, she responds as any proper ice-wielding wolf princess would.

This book is completely UNHINGED, and I mean that in the best possible way. As soon as Maeve started talking about Georges Bataille, I knew we would be in for a fun ride. And what a ride it was! This story is twisted, gory, carnal, and honestly a little heartbreaking. I loved every second of it, but be forewarned that it is not for the faint of heart (or stomach)!

Thank you to C.J. Leede, Tor Nightfire, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I had seen this in a Goodreads list of anticipated horror and thrillers for the summer so when I saw it available on NetGalley I knew I had to I knew I had to request it.

When I say I devoured this book I am not kidding. It is described as American Psycho with a female protagonist and I totally see that comparison. Full disclosure- have not read American Psycho so basing this on the movie. There where so many WTF and shocking moments but it didn’t get too gory and go into details for shock value which I appreciated. It was a captivating story and I loved the way it was written.

If CJ Leede writes anything else I will for sure be reading it!

I wanted to like this book i really did. In fact this was on my list of most anticipated horror books but I just didn't like it. The concept could have worked but they focused to much on the romance that brought about the down fall. Plus this just took way to long to get going.