This was a wild and weird ride! And shows that power definitely corrupts - in both the ballet company & it's board AND Laure! I don't know what I would do if I was able to have power over people that have wronged me, looked past my accomplishments, and were racist to me. This was my 1st book by Jamison Shea but I am now adding their books to my TBR!

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me is a dark YA horror debut that sits with you long after you've finished. Commenting on a white dominating space like ballet with ballerinas looking for power to achieve their dreams, this was a really unique and dark read.

This was wonderful! The narration is perfect. I loved learning about ballet through this book. I was so attached to our protagonist and I LOVED the drama among the ballerinas.

If you were a dancer or just loved dance shows and movies (Center Stage, Dance Academy, Black Swan, Dance Moms) this book just might be for you. Laure is a black ballerina in a very white dominated ballet society in Paris and she will do just about anything to be the best, including getting involved in something dark.

I don't truly know how to define what genre this sits in outside of YA - it's a mix of a thriller, horror, and fantasy with a touch of romance - so it's pretty interesting. I listened to the audiobook in one sitting (at 2x speed) while I was doing a puzzle and couldn't put it down.

4.5 stars!

OH MY GOSH! What did I just listen to? What an interesting storyline! Never in a million years did I expect this to happen in a book. This YA debut novel is a villain origin story that will have you feeling sorry for the main character in this book.

Laure is constantly looked down upon even though she works twice as hard to be on the top. She is the best in her class, but doesn't even get noticed as she is what you call your typically ballerina due to the color of her skin. Thrown into the toxic ballet culture Laure works night and day to get what she wants with no end results. Then a mysterious offer comes her way and she finally gets everything she deserves in life, but with a price to pay.

Is her life worth the price, is loosing everything she has ever worked for worth the price? Does she get everything she wants after taking the deal? Was anything hers to begin with when her mind, body, and soul were already handed over to ballet.

If the beast doesn't break her the toxic ballet culture surely will.

Ballet and blood contracts? Hell yes.

Enter the cutthroat competitive world of the Parisian ballet, where complete commitment is the minimum requirement to succeed. Dancer Laure has the obsession and the skill to dominate - if it weren't for the old fashioned elitist judges who disqualify her for the color of her skin. In her hunger to command attention, Laure enters the Catacombs to make a dark deal with power.

With creepy atmosphere and beautiful horror, this book is a treat! There's a bit of mystery mixed with horror, the supernatural bleeding into a real world setting. The variety of imagery from underworld grit to opulent luxury is amazing. I would watch this movie in an instant. *hint hint*

On the negative side, the pacing is a little off and the story becomes more muddled toward the end. Relationships between characters aren't quite developed, which weakens character motivations and actions. However, I am willing to ignore more failings than those for the incredible vibes alone.

Extra impressive to me is Jamison Shea's skill in writing about ballet. I have only the most general knowledge about that style of dance, and know nothing at all about the world of ballet in Paris. And yet they pulled me into the story without overloading on explanation, and I never felt overwhelmed by everything I didn't know.

Kristolyn Lloyd does a fantastic job with the audiobook narration for a particularly tricky story. Between French names and demonic growls, she puts on an excellent performance!

I was interested in this because of the title, it was good but just got a bit too descriptive at times. I listened to as an audiobook and the narrator did a great job to keep me engaged. If you want to learn more about the darker side of ballet, pick this up. This is definitely a suspense. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the copy of this audio arc. 4 stars

LOVED the title and cover! Got early access to a draft via NetGalley in exchange for my opinion of the book. I feel like the title is a euphemism for what each person goes through to attain their goals... some go too far because their peers do while others lack that little Jiminy Cricket on their shoulder to tell them when they're approaching boundaries. I've always felt as though ballet was a world that was a little too cutthroat for me and this book has proven to me that I may have been right. The advent of Misty Copeland into fame as a Black ballerina was outstanding prior to reading this book... reading it makes her as phenomenal as Orora or Shuri. Kudos to those with the gumption to stick with it (without making dark deals for success) and those who know/abide by their limits because that world is WAY too cutthroat for the likes of me.

How far are you willing to go if the price of fame could cost you everything‼️

The book follows Laure Mesny a perfectionist who’s constantly overlooked in the elite world of the Parisian ballet. At this point Laure will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To gain the validation and attention she deserves Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.

When I came across this book the first thing that grabbed my attention was the cover then I found myself intrigued with the synopsis. I wish I had requested a physical copy of this but I opted for the audio which the narrator was amazing. Aside from her possessed “monster” voice she delivered flawlessly. Her voice conveyed different emotions whenever the characters changed.

The novel itself was iffy because it was such a slow-burn and the beginning wasn’t all that exciting it kind of starts off light. The author did enough to keep you reading so once we’re a little over 40% the tension rises, things get a little darker, and we get a little more action and conflict with the characters.

At certain points the story did seem a bit confusing because initially it wasn’t clear to me if Laure was the one killing people or something else. I also found the side characters to be rather bland. Character development wasn’t a major strong point here but everything else was executed well.

Overall, I liked the book I can’t really say a lot without giving the good parts away. But for it to be labeled as a horror novel nothing about it was scary. We get some blood, gore, and a little creepiness but nothing major. Jamison’s writing style is very creative, engaging and descriptive. The plot was skillfully constructed but a little too drawn out. Special thanks to the author, @henryholt, @macmillanaudio, & @netgalley for my advanced copy‼️

Rating: 3.75⭐️

I was really with this book until the last quarter of it. I thought the author did a phenomenal job showing the darker side of professional ballet and competition and the inherent racism built into these "old world" systems that still hold so much prestige in modern society. Laure is a really compelling character and beautifully complex. I liked the horror aspect and the embracing of the evil god Akron (sp? I listened to the audio book).

HOWEVER, it got pretty culty at the end. While I liked that Akron allowed Laure to embrace the rougher elements of herself she'd had to hide from the world, I would have liked this to be a lesson she learned and not a reason to go back and made another deal with the devil. The finding of community with the two others who'd made deal was nice, but the whole thing with Ander and being worshiped as a god at the end just had all bad vibes for me. I can see this book appealing to teens and I would love to see more good horror for the list, but...I don't know...bad vibes.

I picked this up because I had seen a lot of hype and a lot of posters for it. The hype is real. The hype is valid.
Laure is a dedicated person making very questionable choices. And I'm totally here for it. It's so great to see someone just embrace the "fine, I can be horrible too" instead of actively trying to take the high road. There is so much vengeance happening all over the place. Darkness and deeply earned violence. Jamison Shea is absolutely on my "buy first, read the blurb later" list now.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea this was one of my highly anticipated books of the year and this book was definitely everything I was expecting and more.

Absolutely phenomenal!

First, the narrator is fantastic. She has all the right inflections in her voice to convey all the different emotions. She kept me engaged in the story. She was one of the best narrators I've listened to.

Second, Laure is such an intriguing character. She is passionate, complicated, and has a great character arc. She doesn't feel the need to fit in with crowd. She simply wants them to accept her for who she is, not their idea of who she should be and that is not too much to ask at all.

Lastly, the author, Jamison Shea, they have weaved a beautiful story of passion, longing, and what happens when you continuously treat people like they don't matter.

Sinister, engaging, and utterly entertaining. A recommended purchase in all formats for YA and HS collections.

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.

I’m glad I listened to this book because I wouldn’t have been able to pronounce half the book, haha. This book is highly descriptive which is great but I just don’t think I was in the mood for this genre at the time. It didn’t excite me and I was often confused through out the story. It just wasn’t my jam but doesn’t mean it can’t be yours. I received this book through Netgalley.

First thing first I am not an own voices reviewer so please go check out those reviews first.
This book had some really solid bones and some great bits. I liked the horror elements and the characters were great but I found the heavy handed focused on dance to be to much. I actually know a bit about dance but the way this book is told if you don't know about dance it gets very confusing very quickly. Also I'm not a huge fan of ballet and it was such a major focus in this book that it was impossible to enjoy the story.
Overall this book could have been great but the author put so much focus on such a niche subject that it several affected the overall appeal of the book.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this arc. This story set the stage relatively well but after the first couple of chapters the book became overly complication and a tad bit confusing. It seemed as though there was a lot of action but none of it felt fully engaging. The ending wrapped up really quickly and left many questions unanswered.
This book was definitely not for me and I think part of the reason is that I am not really aware of dance and how French dance schools work. I wish there was a little bit more of an explanation for stuff especially the main characters backstory because I feel as though if there was elaboration on that it may have been easier to understand the reasoning behind some of her actions. I think that this book should be labeled more as a thriller than horror. There was a tad of body horror but if felt more suspenseful than of horror.

I don’t think I realized just how intense this was going to be!

First off let me say thank you for allowing me to read this ARC!!

I don’t think I’ll be able to look at Paris, France quite the same ever again. This was definitely dark… maybe darker than I had anticipated.

I am not involved in the dance world, but I’ve always heard that there is always some white of a rivalry between ballerinas, and like the competition to be the lead in anything. This was quite the journey for Lauren… she has no money and no support from family. He is constantly being judged for her looks for her status for her ability to perform and she’s constantly struggle to get to the top and stay at the top.

This is where Josephine comes in. She is also another ballerina, who is from a very poor background. But however, has managed to become extremely successful, and Lauren is wanting to know how this is possible. This is such a great mixture of horror and fantasy and one book. I really enjoyed how they were just underlying issues with like racism and poverty and nepotism.

Now, I did listen to this on audiobook and as I was getting closer to the end, I was really starting to worry the conclusion might not be what I really wanted…. But, I was 100% satisfied. I don’t know maybe I just wanted more, but who doesn’t.

"That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow haired boy. It wasn't so much after all."

"I felt you in my veins. You are inevitable."

"The dream I've been fed is a lie, and why should I shoulder that burden"

This book was so good!
At it's core was a story about two women, fighting for the same dream. And tearing their worlds apart, just to see it come to fruition. And the things they are willing to give up.

It was full of creepy vibes. It was full of malice. It was full of growth and hope. I'm obsessed.
To me it was like The Craft meets Black Swan, and i devoured it.