Thank you Netgalley, the publisher,and Ava Reid

Ava Reid is such an amazing author. Her writing is so descriptive and really pulls you into the story. You can picture everything perfectly. This was a great Lady Macbeth retelling!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF @42% for me. I tried, I really did, but if I’ve almost reached the halfway point of a book and can’t bring myself to care or even be interested in any of the characters, and I’m not invested in the plot, I have to call it quits.

I have 0 attachment to the original Macbeth and this book didn’t change that for me, I just didn’t care. I found myself not comprehending words I’d read simply because my brain would drift off (that RARELY happens to me) and then I’d have to go back to understand how we got somewhere. That being said, Roscille’s narration does tend to go off on tangents that I didn’t understand the importance of.

I don’t have much else to say about this other than it’s just not for me. I can certainly see people really enjoying this, but I just really needed more from the characters, including Roscille, who sometimes seems very capable and attentive but then just doesn’t use her skills or information to her advantage? Doesn’t plan ahead or think of the consequences?

I don’t know, I'm done rambling now.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley for this ARC for in exchange for an honest review.

I will say this was not my first Ava Reid book, but this was the first miss for me. I really enjoy Ava Reid and I enjoyed this for the most part, but ultimately it was a 3/3.5 if I'm being generous book for me. This was one of my most anticipated reads and one I was most excited for, so for it to not met my expectation breaks my heart a little.

For me the story was a quick read which was nice and the pacing for the most part was good. That was until we reached the ending. I will say, it was extremely rushed and felt entirely too easy. It wasn't satisfying, the book was building and building and then blah...nothing, no pay off, but a nice neat bow. And I felt cheated. What happened? This book is only 320 pages, I would have been fine with it being another 50-100 to get a better or more fleshed out ending.

It's a strong 3.75 for me. I liked the story overall—it had satisfying elements, and I enjoyed reading it.
Roscilla, as a character, is quite complex, and being only 17 years old, there’s a lot of grace I could give her actions. There were moments when I wanted to scream into my Kindle, and others where I cringed because of her evident childishness and prejudice toward foreign people and women in particular. I didn’t find her very likable, but I appreciated her character for being this way. Even when I disagreed with her choices, I accepted them as her own.
However, I had some issues with the execution. The pacing wasn’t my favorite. The beginning of the book dragged so much that I almost DNFed it. Then, it picked up a bit, only to slow down again. Around 80%, there were entire days that passed within sentences. The narrative jumped from 0 to 100 in a single paragraph, leaving me confused about where we were in time. I would have enjoyed lingering with the story a bit longer to experience some descriptions of Macbeth's madness, rather than having it presented as a mere fact. While we know the story, it's presumptuous to assume everyone knows it in detail. I view this type of work as a prelude—something that could inspire readers to explore the original material.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with the book after pushing past the initial urge to DNF. It won’t be my favorite Ava Reid novel, but it’s definitely memorable.

Lady Macbeth is by far the best thing that Ava Reid has ever written, she just gets better and better and better. I absolutely LOVED A Study in Drowning and I just ate this up like thanksgiving dinner. Absolutely captivaing writing. literally the only thing that could have made this better would have been if it were written in first person POV (which is just more of a personal preference of mine). I really enjoyed this, I felt lost at times but honestly I was just going with the vibes. Also, I try not to judge books by their covers - BUT - I have not seen a single back cover for this book. They're all stunning.

I can't say that this isn't a reimagining of Macbeth, but it's not what I was hoping for.

I've always had a certain fondness for Lady Macbeth as a character. She is the driving force behind Macbeth's ambition, she's cunning and manipulative, and she has so much agency in that story. With this being a version centering her, I was hoping to see all of that amped up to 11. But that's not the route the author chose to take, and unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed. I came here hoping to support women's rights but, more importantly for this particular play, women's wrongs. But instead of all the enjoyment of seeing Lady M gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing her way to the top, I got Roscille.

Roscille (aka Lady Macbeth) is seventeen, and incredibly naïve. She thinks much of her own intelligence and cunning, but every plot she hatches throughout the story inevitably fails one way or another, because she didn't account for something. All of the agency that Lady M is supposed to have is stripped away, and rather than being the driving force in the story, Roscille is dragged along by the whims of the men around her. Where the original play has her verbally abusing Macbeth and bullying him into action, here she is submissive and timid around him. He is the one in control, and she just goes where he pushes her. I do think the last 20% of this was interesting, and the writing is beautiful as always, but this could've been a really good story if it hadn't been a Macbeth retelling. I don't think it's particularly feminist, either.

The other issue I have is the portrayal of Scots, and particularly Scottish men. In one of the first chapters, we learn that Roscille has been unjustly feared by men her entire life. They call her a witch because she has strange eyes, when there's no evidence to support this. But instead of her then acknowledging that people have prejudices and that they are usually unfounded, she states with confidence that Scots are brutes, that the men all rape women, and more along those lines. I can acknowledge that, based on the time period and the prejudices running rampant, this could have been her opinion, but it could also have been challenged within the narrative by the author, which doesn't happen. From their first meeting, she's deathly afraid of Macbeth, to the point that she tries to arrange his downfall before he has even shown himself to be anything, brute or not. And the story supports her conclusions, in the end, but she couldn't have known that initially. To be clear, it's not just Macbeth who is portrayed this way. All the Scottish men surrounding her are bad, except for one—Lisander, the half Scottish/half British son of Duncane. This painting of Brits as better than Scots felt problematic to me, especially because there is still a lot of prejudice against Scottish men.

Also, the author seems to be promising dragonfucking in this book, so just to spare people the disappointment: it's not in dragon form.

This was my first Ava Reid book and I was not disappointed!! The writing was not only phenomenal but she also clung to the old Scottish way of talking so that the story itself was very rich and authentic.
I was immediately hooked by this book and I enjoyed my time reading it.
My only "complaint" would be that I'm not always a fan of an open ending but I feel that this one was still done well

Knife sharp - a blade edged in blood and heat and something immutable that we all know but do not speak of.

I love a book that gives nuance, meaning, and agency to historical vilified woman characters-- real and fictional. I have revised my review after finishing Lady Macbeth. Once I was a few chapters in, I did not want to put the book down. Lady Macbeth is a vibrant and interestingly imperfect character and I enjoyed the book so much.

DNF 15%. I really wanted to love this one, but it was hard to fully get into this for me. I know it's a Macbeth retelling, but even this early on, I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was its own story. The writing style is really nice, but it was hard for me to really just enjoy the characters because of the way they were portrayed here.

I love retellings, but I think the changes that Ava made here were ones that didn't fit with how I enjoy the characters and therefore I'm DNFing here.

I definitely look forward to seeing what Ava writes next though.

Thank you to Del Rey for my arc!

I had an idea of what to expect when i picked this up being that Juniper and Thorn is one of my favorite books But the way Reid really took one of my favorite plays and showed me it through a woman's eyes. absolutely blew me away. I find myself going back and rereading quotes, this story will haunt me for a long time.

As usual, Ava Reid never misses.

The writing is incredible, as always.

This is a great gothic retelling with fun feminist twists that really make you question everything you know about this story. I love how she examines a woman’s role. This was exactly the story I wanted and ate up.

Yes. My most anticipated read of the year. This like all of Ava Reid's books was so moody and atmospheric. I loved how cold it felt. I don't love Shakespeare, but Reid made me love Lady Macbeth. I didn't need a completely factual retelling, if I did, I would have stayed with Shakespeare .
Love a man going through it, so Lisander is the dreamiest.

“madness, of all things, is the most unforgivable in a woman.”

lady macbeth is another gorgeously dark, gothic retelling by ava reid. our leading lady roscille, who’s gaze is said to turn men mad, is sent to wed macbeth, a bloodthirsty warrior who has secrets of his own hidden beneath the castle.

as always, reid creates a lush atmosphere that wraps around you as you read. the fantasy elements of this retelling were woven in perfectly. every single element enhanced the already delectable atmosphere, and just made it even more haunting.

what i really want to focus this review on is roscille. i think it’s well within a readers right to dislike the main character, but what i don’t understand is calling her weak. roscille, i believe, keeps the integrity of her original character. she’s cunning and smart, constantly staying one step ahead of macbeth. with every character of reid’s, she shows her strength without wielding a weapon. you do not have to pick up a sword to prove your strength, and i think lady macbeth is a beautiful display of that. she can be brave and she can take her power back without the desire for bloodshed (which is not to say she may spill some blood indirectly…). and at her core? she’s a lonely, isolated, 17-year old girl, but still she stands tall before adversity.

all in all: this is not macbeth. this is not shakespeare. this is a book that can stand on its own, that has paved its own path, without the text that inspired it.

I found the book a really entertaining and enjoyable read. It did not fully live up to my expectations, but it would’ve been tough to begin with because my love for Lady Macbeth as a character is unmatched. Regardless, I really really liked the romance plot and the fantasy elements Ava Reid added to her retelling. The only thing that brought it down in ratings for me is that at times it felt a bit repetitive and it had quite a slow start. After the 40% mark it was *chefs kiss* I finished the second half of the book in less than a day.

I really wish I enjoyed this more than I did. A Study In Drowning remains one of the best books I’ve read all year and after reading the summary for this book I was stoked to read it.

first, the writing is actually stunning. I really enjoy Ava Reid’s prose and despite giving this book a lower rating at least it wasn’t poorly written.

but my major gripe with this book is that it’s advertised as a feminist reimagining of Macbeth and that’s just…not…what it is. the sly, conniving, and coercive Lady Macbeth you remember reading about in high school English class is completely absent from this book! instead we’re stuck with this lost, sniveling teen who spends most of the book bemoaning her life instead of doing anything productive at all to change it. also Macbeth was not Macbeth at all like who is this man lmfao. and the whole side plot with Lisander was just. I feel like anywhere well else I would have eaten that nonsense up but not here.

so much potential with this book but alas, it just didn’t work for me.

thanks so much for NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Went into this expecting it to follow the plot of Macbeth a little more closely, and I think those expectations stopped me from getting into the story at the start. But Ava Reid is so great at painting a picture through her pages that I was still ultimately sucked into dark, dreary Glammis alongside Roscille. I'm no expert on 11th century Scotland, so can't confirm if the details were quite accurate, but I did appreciate that it felt like I was getting a little history lesson as I read (aside from some obvious witchy embellishments). This didn't give me a deeper insight to the Lady Macbeth I know so much as it provided an alternate turn of events. One I definitely enjoyed reading, but have conflicting feelings about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It's been such a brutally hot summer that I've been craving a chilling, gothic story to escape into. Lady Macbeth allowed me to do just that.

The eerie moors of Scotland come alive in Ava Reid's retelling of Shakespeare's most famous villainess. It's been almost ten years since I originally read Macbeth and I remembered so little about it, but that did not hinder my understanding or enjoyment of the plot at all.

I'm such a sucker for feminist retellings, and this is no different. Reid gives Lady Macbeth a voice she's never been given before. Even though the story and its characters are dark and brutal, you can't help but root for Roscille.

There were a few times where the pacing felt a little off (and maybe this has been fixed post-ARC), but overall I felt it did not take away from the story.

I recommend this to anyone who's in the mood for haunting historical fiction with a splash of fantasy.

4 stars / 8 out of 10

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ava Reid's previous works have been hit or miss for me. I've enjoyed some of them and DNFed others. This one was meh for me. I love a good retelling, but this one I couldn't get into as much as I wanted. I felt like I had to force myself to read at times. This wasn't for me.

“He crushed her in his fist, squeezing out all the witchcraft that was valuable to him, and then left her, a husk.”

Ava Reid never fails to deliver strong, beautiful, smart female leads; in Lady Macbeth, that’s exactly what readers will get. 17-year-old Roscille is branded a witch due to her eyes being able to control any men who dare to look into them. When she is married into a loveless, forceful marriage to Lord Macbeth she learns of his infatuation with witches. Like in the Play by William Shakespeare, Roscille starts to play puppet master. Unlike Shakespeare’s version, Ava’s Lady Macbeth doesn’t break down or lose her sanity. Instead, Roscille turns her hurt and anger into vengeance against Macbeth and the men who stand by him.

See my blog or bookstagram for a full review. Thank you so much @delreybooks for my finished arc and Netgalley for my EARC,