Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me is an excellent addition to your Halloween tbr. A Black Swan meets Sign Here story featuring a compelling lead character and an intense setting.

I enjoyed this audiobook, especially the narration. It’s a slowburn, but I loved the main character and the study of how a villain comes to be. An excellent horror debut.

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tiny Pretty Things meets Sign Here.

Laur is a ballerina. She works hard, pushing her body to its limits and it still doesn’t feel like enough. She will always been an outsider until a fateful night leads her to a river of blood and a chance to bargain for power.

While I didn’t necessarily like Laur, she was a compelling character who dealt with a lot of stuff from people who were supposed to be on her side. And set against the cut throat background of the Paris Ballet, I was intrigued by her choices and how much she just ignored until she couldn’t anymore.

Insanely entertaining. A perfect read for anyone in their Villain Era.

I don’t think that this book will be for everyone, but I am obsessed with it. It contains elements of some of my favorite narratives. The refreshing, primal savagery of Iron Widow. The horror and societal commentary of Get Out. The near-metaphorical melodrama of Nothing Burns as Bright as You. Bold, original, yet narrow mythology, akin to Bad Witch Burning.

Main character Laure is so refreshing because of how monstrous the narrative allowed to be, while also being a fully developed and lovely character. She makes bold decisions on when to cross a line, when to go feral. Her thought processes were very interesting. Learning about this ballet microcosm was intriguing. The racial and economic prejudice against Laure never feel over the top or preachy, they all see, like realistic, likely conversations. There is a lot to unpack in this book, it’s practically craving book group discussions and rereads.

I do wish that there was a bit more of a mystery thriller element with more of Laure investigating clues and suspects, with strong red herrings to add to the suspense. I also would have liked detail into how Laure trained for control with the Acheron group.

The audiobook narrator was really good, with the exception of a few affectations for other characters’ voices. Felt a little cheesy, but it didn’t detract that much.

9/10

If you love a good villain origin story, ballet, France and main characters with ambition, you should absolutely add I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me to your spooky season TBR.

Laure is an excellent ballet dancer; she works herself into the ground to make sure of it. As a Black ballerina, she is often overlooked for less talented white dancers, but Laure is willing to do whatever it takes to claw her way to the top, including striking a deal with the river of blood in the Catacombs. Wielding the influence and adoration the deal affords her, Laure takes the spotlight she's been denied, leaving broken bodies in her wake.

I really enjoyed this book! It's a great horror debut by a nonbinary Black author that addresses racism, privilege and the vicious world of ballet. The writing was perfectly creepy, and Shea does an excellent job of making you empathize with Laure even as you're horrified by the things she does. I'd highly recommend this to horror fans!

This is a chilling and vivid exploration of how far a ballet dancer will go to stay at the top of her game despite the deck being stacked unfairly against her.

I'm DNFing this book at page 185(ish). I think I have read enough to warrant not claiming this was a DNF though. I will possibly try again in the future but at the present time, the story just isn't it for me. I love all things creepy and usually love stories involving ballet/dancing but these characters are just reading as even more extra than I'm used to. It could also be the narrator for me, I'm not entirely sure. I do know that I feel like the catacombs and the spooky parts were being overshadowed by Laure's quest, I was hoping the story would be more driven by the "deal" than the attitudes/drama between the dancers/teachers.

Summary:
In the cutthroat world of Parisian ballet, dancers will do anything to be cast. Anything. And when a world famous dancer takes Laure into the catacombs with a promise of fame, Laure strikes a bargain with a primordial power and river of blood. And as a black girl trying to prove that a person of color can make it in ballet, she needs to make centerstage. But when the other dancer is murdered, Laure learns that she will give the primordial power whatever it wants to get what she wants. Including becoming the villain in her own story.

Title: I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me
Author: Jamison Shea
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3./5
🌶️ 0/5

Tropes:
Villain origins
Supernatural bargains

Triggers:
Blood
Murder
Sacrifice

My Thoughts:
I struggled with this book. While it was well written, the author spends a lot of time adding ballet phrases and intermingling the French language into the book, which makes the pace very slow. I like the premise of the book, but it could have spent more time on the plot of the villain than of the ballet rehearsals, auditions and technical dance terms.

Thank you to the author and @netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

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I loved a lot about this book - loved the setting and ballet and the beginning of the book, I was really into it. But then the pacing got weird and I lost interest. There was a LOT of politics in this book that felt heavy handed, but that seems to be the point. It wasn't for me.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me is the story of Laure Mesny, who is a young Black woman trying to become successful in the Parisian Ballet world. Despite her skill, she is overlooked for others until she finally decides to take matters into her own hands. Through others, Laure finds herself in the Catacombs and makes a deal with a monster to become powerful. What follows is a dark and violent story.

I loved this book. I was captivated by the beginning. I loved how dark it was, the body horror, and the story line. There were a few parts where it felt like the pace stalled and slowed, but then it picked back up and was filled with gore and violence to the end. There was also a dab of romance and a lot of betrayal.

I look forward to reading more by Jamison Shea and I think this was a fantastic debut. I appreciate the content warnings in the beginning of the book, as I feel the darkness of it may not be suitable for all readers.

The narrators did a fantastic job bringing the story to life.

However, I found the story to be a bit slow and I struggled for a good portion of it. Overall a good story, but the narrators of the story did a great job making it fairly enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook. This is my honest voluntary review.

Rep: Black bi mc, brown li, Black scs, Asian scs

Racism and injustice are very much present in this book. The way the dance community treats Laure is so terrible. Yes, it’s a horror novel with demons, but the institutional racism, classism and white supremacy is just as horrifying to read. The author critiques the way the ballet institution is only successful to wealthy white girls, and has no place for any POC. Its a very interesting concept, mixing ballet and demons.

I liked how determined Laure was. She knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid of doing whatever it took to achieve her goals. Not even making a deal (or two) with a devil. It was easy to support her, even though we slowly saw her descend to the dark side at times. After all the hardships she faced, you just wanted her to succeed and make everyone see her worth. This book is for people who support women’s wrongs, for sure.

I thought the queereness would be more present. I thought it had a main sapphic couple going into this. Laure is bi, but the romance nor her bisexuality are the focus. I dont know if I just didnt pay attention enough or if I just forget, but I dont remember her queerness really being mentioned much. Laure isnt even in a relationship for most of the book. Which was ok, since there was a lot going on.

Laure’s best friend was pretty annoying. I just wanted Laure to tell her off and quit being her friend. She just kept trying to stay friends with her, even after she baited her and pissed her off. She made a lot of ridiculous demands of Laure.

I liked Laure’s new friends though. Especially Andor & his beast form. That part was very cool and interesting.

The cover is gorgeous and the narrator did a good job.

Overall, a good read. Makes you think a lot about white privilege and how POC have to work so much harder, yet still aren’t good enough. A good reality check, with some horror in the mix.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

This was a solid debut by Jamison Shea. I did have issues with the pacing at times, but overall I enjoyed the story and look forward to the next book! The narration was good and would def listen to them again.

I think this was pretty good but I would almost market this as more of a thriller/horror rather than straight horror within the YA genre. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job, the stakes were believable, but I felt like something was missing. A ballet school setting with a mysterious girl given principle roles before she ever could have earned her way through a company was really interesting at first. I was gripped by the plot but things feel apart after the first death in the story - when I really expected things to ramp up! Instead there was a plateau as the main character has to grapple with the lengths she will go to in order to be at the top of the food chain. This is one of those stories that is best to go into with little expectation of the plot so you can be properly immersed! It's worth a shot, if it has been waiting on your TBR, because I'm sure this will be a favorite for many readers - especially fans of Courtney Summers (thrillers) and definitely someone like Krystal Sutherland (atmospheric horror).
The cover & title are phenomenal and I fully believe this author has a lot of potential so I'm interested to see what Jamison Shea writes next

I'm still figuring out how I feel about this story 100%, but I'm willing to talk about it since I just finished the audio.

I had a chance to listen to the audio version featuring the voice of Kristolyn Lloyd. Initially, I liked Lloyd's ability to grab everyone's attention and hold it center stage. I mean, the book's intro demanded that you pay attention or feel the wrath of the demonic presence that filled the speakers. But as we ventured further into the story, I found Lloyd's performance a little mundane and left to be desired. But I think that has to do more with the slowness of the book than the actual narrator.

I wholeheartedly believe the girlies over at Bookstagram were screaming for this book because:

1. The cover illustration of the book is to die for! We love seeing BIPOC (especially Black!) grace the gloss of the front cover. There has been an uptick in cover illustrations depicting us, but it's still a brand new feeling to see every time something like this drops in our hemisphere.

2. The title of the story is attention-grabbing. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me??? Who came up with that? That would make anyone want to read what's in store.

3. This is a debut book by a black author. Again, as previously stated with the cover illustrations, there's an uptick in BIPOC writers, and we especially love to see one of our own thrive in this space.

But when will we stop falling for the premise and not the actual plot? One of these days, I'm going to find a horror story that's actually horrifying. I Feed Her to the Beast didn't really wow me. Basically, the novel questions if you would sell your soul to the devil to become the greatest.

I do like how the author used her horror version to tell the story. Much "deeper" meaning than actual pop-out-of-the-dark horror.

In the words of Issa Rae, I'm rooting for everyone black.

Thank you once again for this amazing arc! As a young sahm and wife who loves ya horror this was perfect.

The story was a wonderful mix of black women in the world struggles, horror, dance and religions. I loved everything about this hear more of my thoughts in the links & tiktok.

“Do you want to be a god?” This book is a mix of Black Swan, Ace of Spades, and House of Hollow!! It was thrilling! It was dark! It was a great read to start of fall/spooky reads!! The story has only just begun…. I can’t wait to read the next one! An incredible debut! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for a review!

Laurie wants to serve revenge for those who overlook her and to prove to those that a Black girl can perform ballet and be a lead. She is a perfectionist and will do anything to climb the ranks to show what she is made of when it comes to her bitter, white, and privileged peers. If she has to leave a trail of broken bodies to get what she wants, then so be it.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me is marketed as Ace of Spades meets House of Hollow and is noted to be a villain origin story. I have not read Ace of Spades yet, but I can see where they got the marketing to say it is comparable to an extent with House of Hollow. This is definitely a dark, horror book of a villain which is amazing. I am a sucker for villain centered stories.

For most of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, I found it to be pretty fast paced for the first half of the book and very intriguing too. I wanted to know more about Laurie, the god-killer, the peers, and the cutthroat Parisian Ballet school. I really enjoyed watching how Laurie would do anything to climb the ranks to secure the stardom she wanted it. But for the second half of the book, I started to become bored because the pacing slowed down and for some odd reason, I felt a disconnect between the characters. With the feeling of disconnect and the second half of the book, dragging I could care less about if Laurie succeeded or any consequences to any actions.

Do note that there is gore, blood, blood ritual, racism, classism, bullying, death, and toxic people/relationships in this book.

Also, there is LGTBQIA+ rep in this book since Laurie is bisexual.

Overall, I think Jamison Shea has a lot of potential as a writer and I am excited to see her future works because I think she will write fantastic books. For I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, it is definitely a solid debut, and I would have rated it higher if the second half did not drag. But I still think Jamison did great for a debut.

I love a villain origin story!

How much are you willing to risk for fame? What sacrifices are you prepared to make?

Laure Mesny always felt inadequate no matter how much effort she put in. She pushed herself to the point where her body was bloody and bruised. Yet, her peers and the elites of the Parisian ballet world continued to overlook her, simply because of her background and race.

Fed up with this injustice, she struck a deal with the mysterious being residing within the bloody river of the Catacombs. It granted her unprecedented power and influence, surpassing anything she had ever experienced before. Once she tasted this newfound power, she became addicted. She no longer cared about who she had to crush to fulfill her dreams.

What a wild ride! I admit the second half did drag a tiny bit, but it picks back up at the end. Overall, a compelling story and a solid debut. Highly recommend it to fans of Black Swan and YA horror/thrillers.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Jamison Shea, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

This is a really fun story from a debut author and narrator. It asks the question, how far would you go to reach perfection when perfection isn't good enough? I had a lot of empathy for Laure. Ballet is already a tough profession and even more so for a POC. The story telling was great, I was fascinated by Laure's journey, the supporting characters were engaging. Jamison Shea will only continue to strengthen as an author if this was the work she put out as a debut. The narrator, Kristolyn Lloyd, was a little rough around the edges but she still did amazing with the voice work and various accents for everyone. She has a bright future in audio narration if she continues.

This was such a good book. The audio performance was awesome. I wanted to keep reading even when I want able to read with my ears. I would highly recommend.

**Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC through NetGalley**