Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Giving this a 4.5

Saying I loved this is weird. But I did. This book was so odd and I had so much fun reading it. I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go and it threw me for a loop there near the end. How much romance can we get with a woman being seduced by a giant spider? You’d be surprised. Also this whole world was so odd. They’d say things in such a serious way and I’d be confused. I didn’t clock this as a novella until I started reading but there is just enough story to make it feel like a full novel.

This is one of the cutest monster romances I've ever read. Creepy, gothic and vibey, we follow the keeper of the keys, as she tries to stay alive in a house full of spiders, while doing the mistress of the house's bidding, and solving the crime of a stolen memory.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was interesting and different from what I normally read but it wasn’t for me.

Do you like Gothic romance? Do you like spiders? Oh, do I have a book recommendation for you.

Dália has lived most of her life in Capricious House, serving as an apprentice to Ms. Matilde, the Keeper of the Keys. The massive manor house is isolated, surrounded by fields of poppies and filled with tarantulas (which serve as pets to many of the servants in addition to being utilized as a food source). The Lady Anatema provides well for her house’s servants, and Dália wants for very little. When her supervisor/caretaker dies suddenly, Dália is appointed as the new Keeper of the Keys. The Lady summons her to the third floor of the house, forbidden to most of the servants, but the dwelling place of Anatema herself. There has been a theft, and the Lady needs answers. Someone has stolen one of her memories, an intricately woven replica she made of her most recently deceased bride.

The Lady Anatema is not, as you quickly learn, human. She is an enormous spider-like creature, and one of the few remaining Archaic Ones in existence. Archaic art is highly sought after, so there’s a small chance that one of the servants in the house has simply stolen Lady Anatema’s weaving to sell. It would fetch a high price, allowing one to live extremely well outside of Capricious House, but that would mean betraying Lady Anatema. Dália can’t imagine ever wanting that, and so she agrees to assist the lady of the house with the investigation. On her way into the library to meet Anatema, she passes by the house motto, written into the flooring: BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD. With that in mind, she enters the library and brings herself to the attention of Lady Anatema.

Upon the discovery of a second theft, Dália begins to compile a list of suspects to question. Who has stolen from Anatema and why? After all, most of her brides have ended up devoured by her. The investigation requires Dália and Anatema to spend a considerable amount of time together. As they grow closer, new feelings and desires come to light for both of them, but they are not the only residents of Capricious House who have been hiding secrets.

But Not Too Bold is a stunning sapphic novella. It’s an unsettling but romantic story that races along in 128 short pages, weaving through the halls and grounds of Capricious House like a spider’s web. Hache Pueyo has won a new fan with this one. The English translation will finally be available on Tuesday, February 11th, and I hope you check it out! Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2025/01/14/but-not-too-bold-a-review/

This was too short for me. I'm in my monster romance era and a woman wedding her female-presenting arachnid boss is right up my alley, but it's barely 100 pages, so I never felt settled enough in the story and with the characters.

The writing is exquisite and I love the formatting and style, but I wish it'd been longer. I wish the potential romance reveal in the last fourth of the book had been present throughout and that we, as the reader, had known who was behind the theft the whole time. That would've added a level of danger to the story and to Dalia's growing relationship with Anatema. It would've given Dalia's decision at the very end more resonance.

If Hache Pueyo ever decides to write a full novel, I hope she chooses to expand on this universe.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing an ARC of But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

This book is a captivating blend of horror and sapphic romance that draws you in from the very first page. The atmosphere is skillfully crafted, striking a perfect balance that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The story unfolds in a hauntingly beautiful setting, which adds to the eerie charm of the narrative. Love to see horror and fantasy in a narrative together. I highly recommend this book.

Oh this was a lot of fun. A spooky gothic romance with a monster. I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. I only wish it had been longer!

A short novella perfect for filling the craving for a gothic sapphic monster romance. This novella has everything you could ask for - a monstrous spider lady with slightly eldritch features, a main character not repulsed by her inhumanness, and a world where the monster lady is looking for a bride who isn’t repulsed by her. My only complaint is that (potentially from the translation) I felt there were a few parts I found confusing, and that I wish the romance was a bit more developed and longer. I didn’t find the worldbuilding too confusing, but I think if this was ever decided to be adapted into a full-length novel it would benefit from a clearer understanding of the setting, as well as more interactions between Anatema and Dália. Overall, this was a fun read and exactly what I was looking for when I saw the synopsis.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Tor Publishing Group for providing this e-ARC.

One of my coping mechanisms for the darkness of winter is to just carry on as if it were still Halloween season. That said, But Not Too Bold is a wonderfully cozy mystery/monster romance perfect for the aforementioned coping mechanism. Reading this was a linguistic delight, although the reader should exercise caution if they have arachnophobia and an active imagination.

4/5 stars - Queer Gothic horror romance meets Eldritch old-world monster God, with a sprinkle of crime solving to taste. So good, no notes.

Who doesn't love a gothic romance with a horror element? This was weird but I had such a good time. My only complaint is that I wish it had been a little longer to flesh out details and create more suspense. I can't say much more since this is so short but I definitely recommend. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

It's difficult to put into words just how much I enjoyed <i>But Not Too Bold</i>. It's fantastical. It's resplendent. It's hypnotizing and dreamlike. It's curious and queer and bizarre and delightful. It's a technicolor complement to 2024's Nosferatu; I devoured every <s>bride</s> bite and wanted more!

Unassuming young beauty Dália has spent nearly all of her life apprenticing to the Keeper of the Keys at the Capricious House, owned and run by Madam Anatema (<i>not</i> Anathema). When Dália's mentor - the old Keeper of Keys - dies unexpectedly, Dália assumes the role she has spent years training for, unaware that she may have already been snared for an even grander promotion. All of this takes place against the backdrop of a high-stakes whodunnit-style investigation into her fellow employees at the Capricious House, and a similar introspective investigation into what Dália herself may truly want out of life.

As much as I would like to say that I wish this had been a full-length novel rather than a novella, I think that Pueyo achieved <i>exactly</i> the story she set out to tell, and I wouldn't change a thing in the end. Highly recommended for fans of the strange, the lush, the unexpected, the queer, the arachnoid, the charming and the delightful.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the chance to share my thoughts on this eARC!

I didn't really have any strong feelings about But Not Too Bold (with the exception of that ONE scene near the end) so I don't have much to say.

It's a gorgeously atmospheric novella with competent prose, but neither the mystery nor the romantic element is developed enough to be engaging. Actually, most of the mystery scenes add nothing and I hated that the romance is intruded by a jarring M/F scene.

First thank you to Netgally and Hache Pueyo for the EARC in exchange for an review!

But not to bold was my first monster romance and it did not disappoint! The descriptions were so well done that I could very easily visualize everything ( I may need to sleep with the lights on after reading) that even i made sure not to mispronounce Anathema! Fantastic Monster Horror! I cannot recommend this one enough as long as your not afraid of spiders 😉

Dalia is has spent her whole life training to be the keeper of keys, she is suddenly promoted after the lady of the house eats the last one she is ready and unafraid.

Review for Instagram will be posted to @letsreadandreview89 in a few days

This was a perfect fast read (1-2 hours) that had the perfect gothic fantasy vibes. I really enjoyed the body image commentary surrounding Anatema and her desire to not be seen by her staff or her brides. When Dália becomes keeper of the keys, things start to change for Anatema. This definitely falls into the weird side of horror, but I love that. It’s not scary horror, so much as it is macabre and atmospheric. The writing is fantastic and the story is well-plotted for such a short read.

Thank you to @tordotcompub for my ARC of the book! All thoughts are my own.

This delightful fever dream of a monster romance packs a lot into its slim page count as keeper of the keys Dália endeavors to fulfill Lady Anatema's needs, including solving a crime attributed to the previous keeper of the keys. A delicious bizarre amuse-bouche of a story!

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but then it spiraled and I quickly lost track of what the story was about. There just seemed to be a b ur too much going on and it was really strange like there was a slave/servant relationship with a spider which also had slight sexual tension? I just couldn’t get into it but I absolutely love the quirky world and vivid colors!

This was my first read of 2025, and so far it's already a contender for best book of the year (and I'd venture to say it's better than nearly all, or possibly even ALL, of the books I read last year). This is a lush fever-dream of a novella, with harsh drafts of realism wafting through it as counterbalance. I love the main character, I love this world, and I'm fascinating by Anatema. It does SO much in such a short span of pages, I now absolutely must go track down Hache Pueyo's older short story collection and will definitely read anything else she ever publishes.

Spiders. So many spiders.
If you can get past all of the tarantulas, you will enjoy this gothic horror. As I am terrified of them, this book was not for me. I did, however, finish it, and mostly enjoyed it when I wasn’t shuddering at the idea of just how many spiders lived in the Capricious House. I would not have made it as a bride of Anatema, who is an Ancient One in the shape of half-woman-half-arachnid. Delia’s relationship with her was nice though. I also appreciated the mystery, but felt there were moments that jumped from one to another too quickly, and would have liked a few more clarifying sentences

What a delightful treat to start the year! But Not Too Bold follows Dalia, the new Keeper of the Keys for the mistress of the house, who happens to be a huge humanoid arachnid named Anatema. The previous Keeper was eaten by Anatema, who suspected her of stealing.

Having been raised to be a Keeper, Dalia is nonchalant about her monstrous boss's habits of taking laudanum as well as eating a long line of brides, and her work ethic is impeccable.

As Dalia searches for the real culprit of the stolen items, she grows closer to Anatema, wanting to not just serve but to understand her, and maybe, just maybe, to get Anatema to see her as more than a passing fancy.

The world Dalia and Anatema inhabit is perfectly woven (heh) with every character fully rounded and serving its purpose. I really enjoyed this super short read and look forward to reading more from Hache Pueyo.