This one just didn’t quite hit the spot for me, unfortunately.

Ava Reid creates a Lady Macbeth that isn’t the mastermind, but the puppet. I personally haven’t seen a take like this on Macbeth before, so that, at least, made it an interesting read.

Unfortunately though, this just didn’t feel like an Ava Reid book to me. The prose was fine, but it just wasn’t what I’ve come to expect from Reid. Also, there wasn’t single round character in this book. Every character felt flat and two-dimensional. It made it hard to connect with the story or even are about what was happening to the characters.

Even though this one wasn’t a hit for me, I’m still looking forward to whatever Ava Reid writes next. She has become one of my favorite authors, and I can still see the hints of what makes her so great in this book.

A well-written book with a dark, tragic, compelling story. Being able to see into the mind of Lady Macbeth was such a haunting perspective. Once I started reading I didn’t want to stop! The reimagining of this tale was captivating and the ending was not what I expected, but amazing nonetheless. Ava Reid’s writing style is beautiful and she always knows how to capture my attention. I always look forward to reading her works.

Thank you for letting me read it early!

I loved A Study in Drowning, so I had high hopes for this one - but it just ended up feeling a little flat. As I was reading, I didn't really feel like Lady Macbeth was very compelling or completely understand her motivations for doing what she did. Also there was a lot of anti-Scott rhetoric which felt weird and misplaced. Especially because the love interest was half-English.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I grew up knowing the story of Macbeth and I think this was a great retelling of the story but based around Lady Macbeth. Throughout the story, there’s a sense of dread that compels you to continue reading. The entire time I am rooting for Roscille to grow into her true role as villainess but I ended up feeling empathy for her situation. She embraced her powers and her potential in order to not only save herself but to save her people as a true queen. There’s a small sprinkle of romance on the sections with Lisander and I liked that it did not overshadow the main plot and the focus on Roscille.

✨Lady MacBeth by Ava Reid✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

I was a bit hesitant to go into this book because I didn’t necessarily enjoy A Study in Drowning. However this book delivered on similar themes but executed it 10 times better in my opinion.

This book follows Roscille (Lady MacBeth) as she’s on her way to new husband after her father basically sold her away. Roscille is said to be witch cursed and men have feared her her entire life. Roscille is just trying to survive a male dominated world in a time that thrives in manipulation, cleverness, danger, and pridefulness.

This book is relatively short, but packs of punch in both being thought-provoking, and having a compelling plot. I was able to finish it in a day and enjoyed reading it immensely. This is able to make you feel so much for Lady Macbeth in such a small amount of time.

This book has similar themes to A Study in Drowning but in this setting and time period it’s more believable for such a male dominated world. Nothing was forced as I felt it kinda was in A Study in Drowning. Also, Ava Reid can write. There were many instances that I was highlighting page upon page just because of how beautiful and sometimes grotesque the writing was.

Fingerscrossed this book makes it in a special edition book box but it’s so deserving! If you like though provoking, grotesque, gothic stories following a FMC that is as vulnerable as she is manipulative then this book is for you. Please check the trigger warnings first before reading though!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey publishing for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on August 6 of this year.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey via NetGalley for providing me with this ARC! I absolutely LOVED reading this. It was gothic, it was atmospheric, it was witchy, it was everything I could have wanted in a book. The dreary January weather definitely amplified the vibes, but the prose was poetic, even lyrical at times. Even though the prose felt elevated in some ways it didn’t feel inaccessible— I think many people would enjoy this book. Have already begun recommending my friends check this out when it releases in August so we can talk about it!

While I loved some of the new spins on Macbeth this had I.e., added witchery and dragons, overall I struggled to get through this one. I can’t go into too much detail without giving things away but if you love Macbeth I would suggest going into understanding it only mildly follows the plot.

Things I loved: hearing the story from Lady Macbeth’s (Roscille) POV and giving her witch like abilities. I loved seeing her being the schemer and making the decisions cloaked as decisions Macbeth himself made. I also loved the imagery and descriptions used to create Glammis.

Things I didn’t love: the redundant phrases and misogynist undertones of every male character with the exception of one. For example: Macbeth is portrayed as this awful huge giant beast of a man with no respect for women, even though he listens to her and even asks for her guidance through the first 2/3 of the story.

I’d say give it a shot, maybe even more so if you don’t recall any of the original plot of Macbeth.

I am so incredibly conflicted in writing my review. I had certain expectations for this story and it ended up falling a bit flat for me and I’m trying to pinpoint the source of that feeling. I want to give it a fair review, but I can’t help but compare Lady Macbeth to Reid’s previous works, which I loved more. If I strip away my expectations I think I would give this book four stars. As a fan of Ava’s previous works and writing, I’m inclined to give it a 3.5/3.75.

What worked well:
Reid is a master of their craft when it comes to writing a gothic, dark atmosphere that makes the reader's skin crawl. I felt the foreboding, the unease, and the despair of the main character in the most visceral sense. (This book is DARK, in a Juniper and Thorn kind of way, and leaned more horror than I was expecting. Fans who love gothic horror will eat this up. I'm not sure I am part of that group.)

The prose was poetic and vivid and I appreciated the language use, and even the narrative tool of giving our main character different names to illustrate her identity being fluid and tied to the men using it.

I appreciated how the story had a three act structure as a nod to a Shakespearean tragedy. (Especially looking back after finishing the story.)


Some motifs worked really well, like the veil and magic (will not go into details because of spoilers) and there were some really interesting reveals that I wanted to explore more of: (the witches, Roscille’s magic, the dragon as an idea).

Now on to what didn’t work for me…

After reading three of Reid’s books I’m realizing that the themes of xenophobia, misogyny, sexual assault, and introverted FMCs manipulated by the men in their lives are all central themes in every single one of Reid’s bodies of work. I have really appreciated Reid’s social commentary and the care in which they tackle these topics. However, This book’s handling of these themes felt the most one dimensional. After revisiting these same themes in this book, I didn’t feel that anything new was being added to the conversation that wasn’t already explored more impactfully in Reid’s previous works. For example, the motifs used in a Juniper and Thorn of food, hunger, body parts, and poison were nuanced and there was a lot of trust in the reader to tie them to the themes of the story. Here “Ermine” is used nineteen times in addition to the other constant animal analogies. I just wished it had a lighter touch to make it more powerful.

In the same vein, the characters also felt a bit repetitive if you’ve already read Reid’s work. I’m starting to feel like I’m reading the same story in a different font. I felt Roscelle had the weakest character arc out of all of Reid’s FMC’s. Are we meant to realize that she’s not actually cunning and cut throat? Is she just a naive teenager? Has she actually gone mad? Macbeth, and all the Scotts mentioned albeit one, are all depicted as brute, aggressive, women assaulting villains. There’s no complexity to their characters, which makes it a bit less interesting.

The romance in this story was also hard to get behind. It was an instant attraction and lacked the depth it needed to go beyond lust and obsession. Even in her love story of choosing, Roscille is still depicted as an object to be coveted and possessed. The one merit being that in this case it’s consensual. I wasn’t rooting for the FMC and MMC to be together, which is an unusual feeling. Maybe that was intentional? I’m still trying to figure out what Reid was aiming for in the inclusion of this romance. It definitely adds to the Shakespearean tragedy element rather than creating a satisfying love story.

When I sit back and think about my complaints I think it mostly lies with the fact that I think this story was told more effectively in Juniper and Thorn and A Study in Drowning. I understand how so many readers will absolutely fall in love with this book, if not only for Reid’s prose and evocative writing. I’m still left wondering how I might have felt had this been my first book of Reid's instead of the third.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This started off so strong! Half way through I had a hard time with the momentum, it really started to drag for me, which is unfortunate. I think I also had a hard time with the difference between the original story and this adaptation, seeing the changes, but also what remained. All in all, a good story that I had a hard time finishing!

Final rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up)

Ava Reid has managed the impossible: I didn't miss the original play for the entirety of this book. It was original in its own way, but it worked as a complement to the Shakespearean play, filling every empty spot.
I struggled a lot during the first couple of chapters because of some particular English mannerisms, but ended up learning so many new words.
I'm still in awe with the author's writing style. She has such a descriptive and poignant prose, covering every sensible subject in the most accessible yet fascinating way. In this book we deal with female rage, ambition and revenge, all of these which have been covered by Ava Reid in her previous books. Her social critiques are always on point.
But the romance felt off, I wasn't a fan of the main character's dynamic, and that was a major deal breaker for me. I was invested in the plot and the historical setting, but I really didn't enjoy the romance.

What to expect:
- Shakespearean Retelling
- Curses and witches
- Female Rage
- Dark and atmospherical
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pub Date || 06 Aug 2024

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and the author for giving me the chance to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

2.5 stars
Slightly disappointed at how much I looked forward to reading another one of Ava’s books only to find it was lackluster. This retelling felt less like a woman empowering book and more like a writing about how we can just constantly put everyone else down. Throughout the whole book the only person who is ever regarded as presentable in looks is Lady Macbeth and her love interest. Everyone else is either not pleasing to look at or simply just bland all together, men and women alike. Also instead of making Lady Macbeth a woman of strong nature, we get a 17 year old who is too afraid to speak. She goes through the whole book teetering back and forth of being bold and thinking how clever she is only to extinguish her flame, constantly.

I completely understood the whole men make monsters of their sons concept that was being pushed but it left that unfortunate yuck feeling, especially when she continues to exploit others constantly regardless of the others consequences. Even the love interest wasn't leaving good impressions. Lady Macbeth goes for a man she knows nothing about other than he's good looking, but keeps assuming every man in the book is simply just too awful. I found no attachment to any of these characters because they all seem to lack any kind of personality other than hating one another because of being Scottish or a woman, or just simply being alive at this point.

In the end, I didn't hate the book. I do wish there would have been more character development, that we maybe could have had more backstory on what happened to all of the women as well. A bigger push for the love interest and Lady Macbeth so it didn't feel completely built around a superficial relationship.

Macbeth is dark, gothic, haunting, and even more brutal than its source material. while the scottish play examines lady macbeth in tandem with her husband, taking on (what was then seen as) masculine traits so they may succeed, this lady macbeth leans in to her strategy, her careful tactician in hopes of staying ahead of her husband.

This thought provoking and highly unconventional retelling of the story not only reflects a woman's self exploration in a world where power thirst people shedding blood to manipulate their reign, it's also sad, lonely young woman's fight to find her way in the foggy road that spicies up with romantic elements and let's not forget the mythical figures, Scottish folklore blended in the execution with charming fantasy elements like witches, dragons, curses.

This one seals it: Ava Reid's writing just does not work for me, as much as I want it to. I appreciate the idea of focusing on Lady Macbeth, though I found this book rather dull and not remotely a feminist re-imagining. (Centering women doesn't inherently make something feminist...). The cover's gorgeous, though.

I loved this Shakespeare retelling with its witchy gothic vibes and the thread of slowly simmering female rage weaved throughout. Ava Reid writes for the soft femmes among us and her beguiling Lady Macbeth is a naive teenager bound to a brutish Scottish thane in a land far away, where she has to rely on powers both human and unnatural to survive the loneliness and treachery that surrounds her. I really love that Reid's female characters maintain their softness and gentleness while still being portrayed as powerful women. However, I question whether this "feminist" retelling was really necessary given that Shakespeare OG Lady Macbeth was already a bad bitch to begin with, and I felt a little disappointed that the ambition and ruthlessness that Shakespeare's Lady was known for is moistly absent from Reid's Lady Macbeth. I still mostly enjoyed this book, but I feel it missed out on what could've been a really interesting character study.

Thank you so much to Del Rey, NetGalley, and Ava Reid. I scrumpt many a scream when I first got approved for this arc, and wow, I’m so glad I did. How ironic it is that my least-favorite Shakespearean play becomes one of my favorite reads of the year so far.

This book did what “A Dowry of Blood” could not for me. It’s lusciously gothic, deliciously atmospheric, healthily historical, seductively magical, richly immersive, and stacked with a satisfying and rippling current of emotion. Of course, it’s also dripping full of Reid’s usual poetic prose.

Like A Study in Drowning, the atmosphere, characters, symbology, and strong themes (mainly feminist) take the center stage once again, and I once again am eating it up; she writes it all so well. However, please note that Lady Macbeth is adult, and contains content much much darker than ASID. Be sure to check trigger warnings.

Probably my favorite characteristic of Lady Macbeth is the titular character and protagonist herself (once again like ASID). She is incredibly realistic, easy to root for, morally grey, and her arc is *chef’s kiss.* She is exactly the type of villainess you’d expect from her circumstances, and in a good way. Naive, yes (she is only 17), but highly intelligent, and most definitely not innocent. I could reread this arc immediately for her character alone. Of course, throw in the other things I already raved about and drooled over, and you get a fantastic read. I Will be preordering a physical copy, and I suggest you all do the same.

5/5 weasels

2.5 stars generously rounded up.

Where to begin? As other reviewers have pointed out, this is not really a reimagining of Macbeth in that the characters are nothing like their Shakespearean counterparts. Not even a little. Others have suggested this would have worked better as a Bluebeard retelling and I heartily agree with that.

Reid's Lady Macbeth is a simpering seventeen-year-old bastard daughter of a Breton ruler, sent to be Macbeth's bride in a transactional marriage typical for the time. Lady Roscille feels betrayed by her father, which, yeah, I would be too, but said father also forced her to wear a veil at all times because the seductive witchy powers of her eyes enchant and enslave men. I feel like your dad calling you a witch is not the basis for a relationship to be mourned. Anyhoo.

Roscille goes to Scotland with her handmaiden Hawise (who I kept calling "Hagrid" in my head, alas). Unfortunately, it's not the custom (???) for Scottish ladies to keep a handmaiden, so Roscille is isolated in a drafty castle with a bunch of brawny, bloodthirsty warriors. Here is where I will defend Reid: many reviewers conflate a character's xenophobia with the author's opinion. Roscille is a kid who's been sent to marry someone she doesn't know, in a country with customs contrary to her own. She's not going to be particularly open-minded about her new husband and his clan. They're portrayed as brutes because to her they are.

Roscille is preoccupied with preventing her husband from sleeping with her on their wedding night. She devises some requests Macbeth must fulfill. Unfortunately, her requests lead to an ungodly amount of war and bloodshed, to which she later says "oops, my bad." Roscille has a strange tendency to think "gee, I should be careful about what I say or do" and then say or do something ridiculously offensive or needlessly provocative. She's constantly shooting herself in the foot (barring the fact that firearms have not yet been invented).

There's a weird subplot with Roscille faking a raider attack on herself and Fléance in order to make him seem more manly to his father. Shocker: this also backfires spectacularly. But the plot proceeds apace until Duncane and his sons arrive at Macbeth's castle. Finally! The crucial regicide! Roscille enchants two guards with her eyes and makes them kill the king, a little like a Jedi mind trick but for witches. She doesn't do the deed herself and Macbeth isn't even there! It's a little inconvenient that the king's eldest son, Lysander, keeps making moony eyes at Roscille at the table. She finds his Tom Hiddleston-as-Loki appearance incredibly attractive, so it's extra awkward that she's involved in killing his father.

At this point, things really start going off the rails, and I realized that if this were marketed as a fantasy with no relation to Macbeth it would have been ten times more enjoyable. Instead, the reader cannot help but compare to the original play, which is a masterpiece for a reason.

Despite all of these complaints, Lady Macbeth is compellingly written, with a flowery troubadour vibe well-suited to someone inspired by the lais of Marie de France. I can't hate it, but I can't recommend it, either.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.

"A man without enemies is a man without power." This book is definitely going to be a new favorite of mine. I had never read any of Ava Reid before and I was shocked at how beautiful the prose that this author writes is. I loved the characters especially Lady Macbeth and the ending was shocking for me. I love the gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss vibes that the main character has. The way that the s*x scene between Roscilla and Lisander was so beautifully written I was in shambles. I thought that the age gap between Macbeth and Roscilla was very interesting because I don't remember any mention to that in the play. I like how this relationship is not romanticized because of how many books that exist that do. Especially since he does not seem to know the meaning of consent. As much as I hate that Macbeth only views his wife as a trophy wife but it was interesting to me. After reading this book I can positively say that I believe in Ava Reid supremacy. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for this opportunity to read rate and review this book which will be available 4/6/24!!!

Holy Mother of Pearl but this BOOK! This book is exactly what you have come to expect from Ava Reid. It is feminine rage in a twisty turny concisely written story that drags you along for the ride by your soul. The plot is utterly consuming. The characters are so fleshed out they feel real. The world building is there but it’s not all up in your face because you are too busy following the characters into the story. I am absolutely buying this book and have it preordered. I think this one may be Ava Reid’s masterpiece in my humble opinion.

Omg this was so good! I am so glad this was a reimagining rather than a retelling, because this story was way more interesting for Roscille than for her original Lady Macbeth counterpart. I was eating up the reinterpretations of Macbeth’s prophecies and the witches’ characterization.

I loved Ava Reid’s writing style as ALWAYS and will devour anything she writes. She has such a knack for beautiful language and does an excellent job of keeping a feeling of intrigue and mystery alive throughout the entire story.

Also, Macbeth is officially NOT hot. Lisander is though.

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.

Roscille is the daughter of a Duke which in her world means marriage at the young age of 17 to Macbeth, Thane of Glammis. Now forced to live and survive in the Scottish land that is vastly different from her French noble upbringing. With rumored magic can she find a way to thrive and overcome her present circumstances.

So when I picked this work up I was elated as Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s works is by far his most strong and fierce female character… however calling this a Macbeth retelling is a stretch. I honestly saw more connection with Bluebeard story rather than Macbeth in my opinion. Where you go into this thinking you will get a strong female lead to root for as this is touted as a feminist read I found myself disappointed. Roscille is a young woman of 17 forced into an unfortunate marriage to a much older man, while I did feel for the situation she was put into I did not get the strong female rage I was so badly hoping for. Honestly the majority of her decision making was done in poor judgment and only when it would be something that affected her did she actual make these choices. In fact for a “feminist” book there was a huge lack of female characters aside from our FMC. We are constantly told that the Scottish men are brutes but given very little examples or backstory as to why they are considered so ruthless and evil to back up these claims. Making the constant bashing of Scottish people and the landscape feel icky and give off xenophobic vibes. I did enjoy the witches for the most part and I will say the last 10% does pick up and get more interesting and shows a glimpse of that strength and power I desperately wanted in the whole book. If you are going into this read thinking you are getting a more modern twist on the Macbeth story you definitely need to adjust your expectations as stated this is a very loose retelling. I will say as I did with my review of A Study in Drowning Reid does a great job of portraying gothic atmosphere and displays this through a very thematic and lush prose.

Lady Macbeth comes out August 6th, 2024.

Thank you again NetGalley and Random House Publishing, Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.