Thank you Net Galley for providing an E-Arc for an honest review!
This story was so immersive that I felt like a polish girl watching this in the woods and following along. I was sobbing and giggling the entire time and I would 100% recommend for you to add this to your fall TBR and the vibes are ~perfect~! This author is now and autobuy and I cannot wait for their next book!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Fun and unique fantasy that is both engaging and comforting. Perfect for fans of Howl's Moving Castle. The setup is a bit slow, but the lovable and complex characters carry the interest until the action kicks in.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

Sometimes you absolutely choose a book based on the cover and that was the case for the beautiful artwork of Where the Dark Stands Still. I love young adult gothic romance because it has all the fun of being eerie and atmospheric without making you lose any sleep. Liska is a girl struggling to contain her forbidden magic in her small town. When she escapes to the nearby forest, she makes a deal with its magical guardian, the Leszy. This tale is heavily influenced by Polish folklore and a dash of Howl’s Moving Castle. If you loved Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy this will be just the read for you.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

“Where the Dark Still Stands” by A.B. Poranek had an intriguing premise, but unfortunately, it fell short for me. The initial setup promised a compelling mystery and atmospheric storytelling, but as the story progressed, I found it increasingly difficult to stay engaged. The pacing felt uneven, with long stretches where little seemed to happen, making it a challenge to remain invested in the plot.

The characters, while initially interesting, lacked development and depth, which made it hard to connect with their journeys. Additionally, the writing style felt overly descriptive at times, which slowed down the narrative and made it difficult to maintain focus.

Ultimately, I did not finish the book because it struggled to hold my attention and the story did not develop in a way that compelled me to keep reading. While “Where the Dark Still Stands” had potential, it didn’t quite deliver for me.

I give it 2 stars for the promising premise and the initial intrigue, but it ultimately fell short in execution.

I don’t know why but I love sentient houses. This was like Howl’s Moving Castle. There’s an enchanted forest, a crumbling manor and enjoyable characters. Lovely debut!

A Gem of Polish Folklore Fantasy

Thoughts💡
An exquisitely written gothic beauty. The characters will steal your heart and their struggles will keep you on the end of your seat.
Just make sure to keep your phone or computer handy because there are a lot of references to Polish items and there polish words used. I liked it because I like learning new things, but it could throw you out of the story if you have to go look something up.


Stats📊
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Characters: 💙💙💙💙💙
YA Dark Fantasy: Gothic, Polish Folklore, Monster Boyfriend, Hurt/Comfort, Cursed Forest, Twisted Bargan, Spirits, Demons, & Witches📘
Third Person, Present Tense

I wanted to love it more, but I realized that I wasn't going to get into it like I thought I would because I had had it on my TBR pile digitally and then in print and still picked it up and put it down. In part, maybe it was an anticipation thing because the premise sounds darkly atmospheric and it's Polish! I wanted the [book:My Throat an Open Grave|61386936] and [book:Echo North|40046030] vibes but it wasn't paced in a way that kept me connected.

The story starts when Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous demon-inhabited spirit wood to steal a mythical fern flower so she can use it to suppress her magic. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain is one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish. Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even Leszy and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.

I heard that this book was based on Polish mythology but all I could see was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It had a Beauty and the Beast story but darker. The story was well thought out, but it also felt like the author wanted to fit in too many stories in a short amount of time. It was still enjoyable to read, especially if you like fantasy-romance books, you would love this.

I think the reason why I give three stars for this book is because I am tired of the Beauty and the Beast kind of story. There are too many already, and not much that can make the story better. Eventually, they all become the same and predictable.

This was a lovely story. This tale is heavy with gothic feels and allows the reader to fully enter and feel their world. While I obviously would have loved a different ending, it was appropriate and true to the characters and the story.

The one piece of feedback is that I do not like the cover and it would have deterred me from picking it up if I had not read the description.

Liska is willing to serve a year in captivity to the Leszy in order to return to her town as an average girl with the ability to just get on with a normal life. But the longer she’s at the manor, she’s learning that there can be a lot of secrets in 700 years.

This story had such great references to old Polish folklore and demons, but explained them well enough that the book was enjoyable without the background info. Liska grew up shunned in her small community because magic could only be evil, according to the older villagers. Liska is willing to do anything to be rid of her magic and live a normal, boring life, but her quest for the one legend she knows of to grant her wish lands her in the very magical castle of the Leszy, deep in the Driada.

Once there, Liska acts the only way she knows how, trying to take good care of the castle that is her new home for the year, and her new master, the Leszy. Along the way, new characters are discovered, and a legend presents itself that never could have occurred to Liska, and may even change her mind about her long term goals.

The book was engaging and entertaining. It earned 4 out of 5 stars and was a great escapist fantasy read. Others who would enjoy this book are those who like young adult fantasy with interesting worlds and characters, and those with an interest in ancient Polish legends.

If you enjoy reading anything that has Studio Gigi vibes, then you will love this one. It's just a cozy young adult fantasy book. I kept on reading and reading until suddenly I reached for the last page. Unexpected ending that left me into tears.

I devoured this book. I was actually riveted since the very beginning and couldn’t stop till I reach the very end.. And, that too was quite perfect and brought the closure to Leszy and Liska’s story that I needed after that emotional roller coaster of a ride.

I am incredibly excited to have this book in my life, because although I am Transylvanian (Hungarian), I am partly Polish as well! A fun fact I do not share often. From my Grandfather’s side I am Polish and thank to granny and him I have heard some of the most wonderful folktales and of course I ate pierogi 😌

Where The Dark Stands Still is a dark forestcore, mesmerizing YA fantasy that blends gothic elements with Polish folklore and keeps you turn page after page. It is full of with magic and wonders, self-acceptance and the power of the kind, selfless heart!

It has a grumpy ward (the Leszy) and a sunshine witch (Liska) and many more spirits and demons. The Driada is a forest which keeps the evils locked within its foods snd brave Liska wonders there to get rid of her magic… instead she ends up making a deal with the most powerful demon, Leszy: a year service for her wish. However easy it seems, it soon turns out the old crumbling manor hides more secrets than the folktales told about.

The story is gripping, adventurous, twists follows twists and of course the sparks of love starts to ignite, slowly. Beyond the engaging storytelling the folklore and myths add another layer of wonder and richness to the story. The end of the book made me tear up and I wish it would have been longer!

Read it if you like:
🌿 grumpy x sunshine
🌿 unique magic systems
🌿 Howl’s Moving Castle vibes
🌿 forests and secrets
🌿 endearing banter that is actually quite funny
🌿 a beautiful story of sacrifice, kindness and love

I honestly really enjoyed this book. I loved the world building and the characters, and can see the Howls Moving Castle comparison. I thought Liska was a great main character who was brave and stood her ground. I actually really enjoyed the ending too, I normally don't like endings like this, but I liked the 'your own interpretation' vibes at the end. The one negative thing is that personally, it is really hard for me to read books that are in first person present tense. So every time I picked the book back up, it took me a few pages to sink into the story. Overall, great Polish folk story!!

Thank you to the Publisher and TBRBeyond Tours for my arc.

I'm a bit behind in reviewing this but here goes anyway.

I feel like i am in the minority of people who didn't particulary love this book and that could be because nothing I have read this year has blown me away. but i hated the main character in this. She was giving Mary Sue/Bella Swan etc and I couldn't stand her at all and the demon you could see was trying to be Howl from Howls Moving Castle and I just didn't care about either of them.

Maybe i'll come back to this when i'm more invested in reading

Okay. This book got me. I was totally pissed and ready to be like “4 stars…how dare the author do that to me.” And then one final sentence cured that.

That being said, I adored this story. I was told it was very Howls Moving Castle and it is in the best ways. It’s not a rip off, but the influence is apparent. This story is rich, lush, and consuming. I truly enjoyed the descriptions of the Driada, the various spirits, and the overall mood of the book. I can’t say enough praise for this story, because it was truly written so well.

A young woman who feels that magic is a curse and wishes to be rid of it enters a demon forest in search of the Leszy hoping to be freed from it forever. She ends up getting so much more than she brgains for.

There was so much I liked about this story, and so much that I didn't.

First off, I am always drawn to stories inspired by Howl's Moving Castle. I just love an excentric wizard/magician an earnest female lead, offbeat found family, and sentient/enchanted castle.

I also love any kind of folklore. This reminded me of a mashup of Uprooted and Winternight. I will usually eat up an enchanted forest inhabited by nefarious supernatural creatures.

I didn't love the pacing. It was slow moving and quite heavy for the majority of the story, picked up for a little while, and then slowed down again.

The religiosity didn't make sense to me. Clearly the demons were nefarious. The Leszy existed to keep the demons in the forest and out of the mundane world. The Church was against magic and by proxy God is against magic. The God of the church seemed simultaneously a dead and distant thing, while the Old Gods were powerful. Yet the relics and sacraments of the Church (crucifix, holy water, exorcisms) do have a kind of power against demons. And Liska who assumes God hates her also prays to him for strength, power, and forgiveness? It's so confusing.

I also didn't love the romance. I didn't feel connected with any of it or find it entirely believable. They were uninterested for a while and then all of a magical sudden they were in love. I didn't pick up on anything leading in. I didn't relate, sympathize, or care.

And maybe that's what it boils down to. There were all the elements of a lovely story, but overall I didn't connect to it or fall into it. I think some people will really like this, and others won't. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

The cover at is gorgeous though. I'm always drawn to beautiful artwork.

Thank you to Simon and Shuster for sending me this ARC through Netgalley.

The reader is basically dropped into the middle of the main character on a possible death mission into a haunted wood to get rid of her unwanted magic, with no idea what was really going on or what world this is. I was a little bit confused about the world as well as the magic and the demon origin, but the characters and the relationship dynamics were great. This was very much a found family type book and I am always here for that. I was also a fan that the demon called the main character "Not-So-Clever-Fox" as if it was her name, starting as a demeaning name and then an endearment.
Overall this was an entertaining book, even if the ending was incredibly bittersweet. This was a nice standalone fairytale-esque read that I would recommend for anyone who needs some magic and a lot of feels.