I want to like Reid’s work but I keep finding it rather dull. I think she can write but it isn’t captivating enough for me and that’s something I look for in writers. I think, at least for now, I’m done picking up a Reid book.

I absolutely loved this book SO much! I could not stay away from it - it gave me similar underlying tones to Slewfoot by Brom and loved. I love the growth of the character into her self and just honestly loved everything about this book

Ava Reid provides a contemplative, mournful lens to the story of Lady Macbeth.

Roscille is married to Macbeth at seventeen and forced to veil her eyes, as her gaze is rumored to induce madness in men. She is a witch, something to be wielded and feared. In Glammis, her new home, she is surrounded by powerful men. She carves out her place among them when she discovers that her husband has a dark secret in his basement: three witches who spout prophecy, words that Macbeth takes to be the absolute truth. The world is harsh, cruel, and unkind; but Lady Macbeth is determined to survive.

This book's strength is in its prose. Reid has a singular talent for wiring achingly beautiful stories with captivating descriptions and turns of phrase. Roscille does what she can within the confines of her circumstance. She is young, she's been married to a man much older than she, there are dire repercussions for speaking or acting out of turn. And yet she, from a place of quiet strength, is able to survive in the face of fear and pain. Those who are looking for a feisty heroine will be disappointed, but readers who want phenomenal writing and quiet, dark fantasy will enjoy Reid's latest book.

This book was addicting. I could not stop reading Lady MacBeth’s story, and the decadent language truly immersed me in the world of witchcraft, beasts, forbidden romance, and the greed of MacBeth. Whew. Ava Reid knocked it out of the park. Thank you for the ARC, I had SO much fun reading this.

I am a bad (terrible, really) English major and am not overly familiar with Macbeth. I enjoyed this version of the story through Lady Macbeth’s eyes, but if you want something close to the original story, this is not it.

Much was changed about Lady Macbeth’s character, but I still liked the story. Gone is the clever villainess of the original, but in her place is a teenager that’s been told all her life she’s a danger to men. I thought this played out really nicely in the story and it made for good character development for Roscille.


Overall, this is a 4/5 for me. There are some things I didn’t like, but I’d still recommend Lady Macbeth to gothic fantasy readers and Ava Reid fans. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I didn't love this though I really wish I did! I hold no love for the source material but figured I would give this a shot and I feel as though it just fell a bit flat for me. The writing was a bit dull, despite also being highly metaphorical and poetic. Just overall very dry. I wanted desperately for there to be some excitement and there wasn't much. Disappointed.

3/5 ⭐️

This book was a little flat for me. I have a general knowledge of Macbeth, but have never read it so maybe this would be more enjoyable for those that have. The characters, plot, and political intrigue in the first half of the story was great but I felt like it went nowhere for the second half. However, Ava Reid’s writing style is evocative and I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lady Macbeth was my favourite character when reading the original play back in high school. Reading Ava Reid's magical and poetic writing was a 10/10 experience. From the description of the setting, I truly felt like I was walking the Scottish castles and feeling the breeze on my skin. Her emotions, I was tasting the fear and the anxiety. Every decision she made or was pushed into... I thought I was stuck with one simple portrayal of Lady Macbeth but Reid in a way reinvented her. What a beautiful and emotion-fueled story. Will definitely keep an eye on more of Reid's work.

Lady Macbeth is a gothic reimagining of Macbeth from the viewpoint of Lady Macbeth with a dash of fantasy. It takes a lot of the characters and elements of Shakespeare's play and tells the story in a fresh way with new stakes, delving deeply into the mindset of Lady Macbeth.

Instead of a villain, Reid has created a compelling, sympathetic protagonist--a teenage girl who's dealing with the horrors of her time and is trying to cope as best as she can in an arranged marriage and a new land. As with Reid's other books, her prose is gorgeous and the setting is vivid and atmospheric. The feminist theme woven throughout the narrative is another strong point, and I especially liked how this impacted Reid's interpretation of the three witches. I also liked the way Reid handled Lady Macbeth's shifting name. In a note, she mentioned how she wanted to keep name pronunciation true to historical accuracy. This also fits the protagonist's shifting identity as she figures out who she is and what her place is in the world. Is she French or Scottish? A bastard daughter of a duke or a lady? Is she witch-kissed or powerful in her own right? Because this is a coming-of-age tale at its heart, I do think it's properly classified as young adult. However, given the themes and writing, it has a lot of crossover appeal.

Two issues kept this book from being a five-star read. One, the love story subplot was a little underdeveloped and rushed. I'm not super bothered by this one as it wasn't the main focus of the story. The other is that I didn't connect with Lady Macbeth the way I did with Effy from ASID. That may be an unfair comparison that other readers aren't bothered by--I had such a strong connection with Effy and ASID is one of my all-time favorite books. It did make me feel less emotionally connected to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballantine/Del Rey for giving me an ARC. All thoughts are my own.

🌊A feminist retelling of Macbeth from the perspective Lady Macbeth.🌊

I’m always up for Shakespeare retellings. I love the expansion of his stories and characters and deeper dive into their motivations, etc.

I have seen Macbeth, but only remembered the witches. I read the Macbeth plot summary after finishing Lady Macbeth. It seems to vary significantly from the original source material... but honestly I’m a bit confused overall.

Reid’s writing was poetic and full of symbolism and comparisons to the native animals of Scotland. But the story and characters had me wanting less metaphorical writing. I was confused about what was happening and why.

I mostly understood why Roscille (Lady Macbeth) did what she did ... but I did not understand her overall plan. What was her next step going to be? No idea.

It was a slow start and then the end lost my interest too.

I can see why people will enjoy this book. I’d like to read another book by Reid. But this didn’t help me understand the story of Macbeth any better and the story on it’s own felt underwhelming.

I’m really disappointed because I was so excited to read this one. Look at that cover! Ugh. I want to like it so much. 😭

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid reimagines the bloody tragedy of Macbeth, but this time with the ever-iconic Lady Macbeth holding the reins. Reid delves deeper into the mind of Lady Macbeth, showcasing her cleverness and motivations and twisting this, usually male-dominated, story into one of feminism and power in the face of seemingly all-powerful men. This tale is one I would recommend to any fans of the original play.

I personally didn’t love this book, but that was mostly because the writing was, in my opinion, complex and somewhat dense, causing me to struggle to get into the story. However, this is partly because Reid was extremely accurate to the different aspects of the time period, with titles for places/people and languages.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing House for the ARC!

I think this is my third Lady M book of the year, and it's only March. I guess she's pretty hot right now. In this version, she's just another Lady M in a long line of them--three, in fact, chained up in Mackers's basement, doing the laundry and making prophesies. This Lady herself has powers--maybe--but they're a bit wasted here. Lady M is mostly kind of falccid, trying to plot and scheme without being very good at either. The entire book is about avoiding penetration--Lady M's fear of Macbeth's penis, the penetration of his kingdom by other forces, While she tries to avoid having PIV sex with Macbeth, she falls for one of Duncan's sons, who is....a dragon.... and good at oral sex. Anyway, it's a bit of a mess, and despite some interesting atmospheric things, I can't recommend it.

Please be sure to read your content warnings!

Tropes & themes:
Single POV (FMC)
Arranged forced marriage
Clever FMC
Witches
Slow burn (not in a romance way, more so the pacing of the book)
Curses and prophesies
Shakespeare retelling

If you love gothic themes & Shakespeare this one is for you!! It is set in the Scottish country side, and follows the POV of Lady Macbeth in a gothic tale of how & what women need to do in order to survive. Ava Reid did a BEAUTIFUL job with this story & her writing really stood out with this release. I nocked down a star due to the side stories that weren’t complete & left me wondering about them.

Ava Reid’s latest release is a true re-imagining of Macbeth — she takes elements of the classic story we all read in high school English and turns it into something altogether new. It takes some of the characters and plot elements you liked and brings them back to life with different stakes and motivations.

If you’re expecting the classic Lady Macbeth character, definitely shift your mindset! Although a little controversial, I liked that Reid has written a new Lady Macbeth character. This one isn’t the same villainess from the Bard’s tale, but a teenage French bride who isn’t quite as confident or wise. I don’t love that we’re losing a beloved strong middle-aged female character, but if you suspend that knowledge, this new character works.

The story’s plot kept me engaged throughout. The heightened fantasy elements really brought new twists that upended my expectations. The sense of dark inevitability sucked me in big time.

My only complaints are that many of the characters felt a little too undeveloped for me. I wish we had learned more about the witches or even Macbeth himself. It really took me out of the story a little when the witches are described as “left witch” or “right witch” versus, at the very least, giving them nicknames. And to that point, we are often told Macbeth is mega-bloodthirsty without really being shown why, despite this being a point the plot hinges on.

Big thanks to NetGalley & DelRey/Random House Publishing Group for this ARC — this was a release I’ve really been looking forward to! I found it to be a compelling, quick read that I certainly enjoyed. Definitely worth picking up!

Ava Reid is the master of telling multifaceted dark academia stories. She is able to breathe life in such a vivid and compelling way into this classic tale. When I first heard about Lady Macbeth, I knew that I had to sink my teeth into it as soon as I could. Everything about this work drew me in and refused to let me go. Compelling doesn't seem like a strong enough descriptor for this work.

I know that this book is marketed as a “Lady Macbeth Retelling” but personally it was not. Without giving any spoilers— this has more of a “twisted tales” telling where you get the base story as you do for example in Leonardo Dicaprio's version of Romeo and Juliet or the more recent Rosaline that had streamed on Hulu. I think if you go into it expecting it to be close to source material, you may find it disappointing.

However, I chose not to go into it with any expectation of such and I enjoyed the book and the way in which Ava Reid wove her story.

I chose to give four stars because I think that Lady Macbeth's perspective of "Scots are bad, mindless, awful" people felt a bit excessive. I get that she's a foreign bride from another country but this narrative feels overdone.

Overall, I was excited about receiving this as an arc from Netgalley and would recommend it. It was a quick read and one I enjoyed.

A beautifully atmospheric book that grips you from the very first sentence.

I practically screamed when I got approved for this ARC. I read A Study in Drowning in 2023 and immediately knew Ava Reid would become one of my auto-buy authors.

Her writing in Lady Macbeth was lyric with an undertone of dark and gothic, which was exactly what I was craving when I picked this book up.

The characters will fully fleshed out and I loved seeing how the characters developed as the story progressed.

I have no critiques for this one. 5 stars all the way!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Ava Reid for this e-ARC of Lady Macbeth in exchange for an honest review! It is much appreciated!

I’m trying to branch out with the genres I read. Historically, (pun intended) historical fiction has not been my fave but I read Macbeth in high school and enjoyed it so I thought this might be a good way to dip my toe in the water.

Here’s what it did right: We all know that Lady Macbeth and the witches are the best part of the original Macbeth so getting a twist on the classic more heavily featuring the women of the story was fun, the imagery was very vivid and deep, and it reeeeeally highlights what it meant to be a woman back in ye olde Scotland—the quotes in this book go craaazy.

Aaaand here’s what I didn’t like: It was dryyyy all the way through, a well done steak of a book. I kept waiting for it to get juicy, for her to harness her power and just unleash it on them all but it never came. For someone who can drive men to madness with just one look, Roscille had absolutely no bite. I kept holding out for a fantastic climax, a great shock, something truly vindicating to finish off the book and it just…never came.

Also, spoilers: HOW IS THE ENDING ANY BETTER THAN HER JUST BEING MACBETH’S QUEEN?! The only difference is just that she has a nice husband. Macbeth didn’t even get a proper, painful death. Ugh.

A stunning retelling of the story of Lady Macbeth from the wonderful as usual Ava Reid. I truly can't wait to add this book to my collection. Reid is able to tell a story that captivates you immediately. I couldn't put it down once I started it!

In wild, rocky sea cliffs of Scotland, where the wind howls loud and the black waves beckon, Reid lays her scene. Roscille, 17 years old and witch cursed, approaches Glammis, the home and keep of her new husband, Macbeth. She hides her face behind a veil, to keep mortal men from falling prey to her ensnaring gaze. It is a perilous place and she does what is necessary to survive. Whatever is Necessary.

Lies, bloodshed, vengeance, and prophecy swirl with vibes plucked straight from an A24 film. Lady Macbeth is not a complete retelling as Reid chooses to honor her characters over the original Shakespearian text but it is masterfully done. Reid doesn't gloss over the horror that Roscille faces, but neither does she utilize it for shock factor. Deftly woven throughout is a thread of hope, and perhaps the chance of it is the cruelest twist of it all.