If you want a book that’s a creepy but also spicy, this is a must read. Sydney is a grad student who gets accepted into an exclusive program to study fungi on an island. Her hope is to find a cure for Alzheimer’s but weird things happen throughout her time on the island. She meets a professor who is also her psychologist and a neurosurgeon, Wes Kincaid. She feels an immediate pull towards him and starts having 🌶️ dreams. I loved the mix of creepy haunted island and spicy scenes with Wes. You could definitely tell something wasn’t right from the start but I didn’t expect the ending.

Thank you Karina and NetGalley for this ARC!

This is a great fall read - it’s creepy, dark, and academic with moody weather reflecting the storyline. It takes place at an isolated research facility and there are elements of horror, mystery, suspense, dark romance, and science fiction. The twists and reveals kept me guessing and the story moves at a quick pace after a slower start.

This is the first book that I have read by the author and will not be my last.

I was given a copy by the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!) and all opinions are my own.

Who knew fungi horror and romance could blend so well?
This is a deliciously dark psychological (spicy) horror with all the mechanisms to make this an inescapable atmosphere. Isolated island? Check. Nature becoming unnatural? Check. Medical gaslighting? Check. It’s easy to get pulled into this story and with its foreboding feel throughout, it really keeps the pages turning. I enjoyed this one a lot and it’s just fuelling my need to binge all of Karina Halle’s books.

In Grave Matter by Karina Halle, a grad student goes to a remote research centre to study fungi and soon figures out that nothing is what it seems. I don't want to give away anything else because I loved having it revealed to me a page at a time! Once I started it I couldn't put it down. I got sucked in and HAD to know what was going on. The plot was unguessable (by me anyway), the spice was perfectly kinky, the characters were developed well. Plus it took place in my home province which was an additional draw. Perfect for any time you need a gothic romance fix!

As much as I wanted to love this, I just didn't enjoy it at all. There were several plot holes. The characters felt flat and there was no character development. This did a lot of telling and not a lot of showing.

This book is messed up to the extreme. I read it just to see what happens but I'm mad I did that. The whole story was depraved and dark and freaking scary.

Good for October tho.

4.5/5! 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

🍄‍🟫 Ooooohkay, that was quite the wild ride. This started off slow for me, but absolutely finished with me having my jaw on the floor.

🍄‍🟫 A psychological horror/thriller with Gothic vibes, romance, sci-fi AND spice? Count me in. A book with crazy science experiments, fungi puns, ghosts and dark forests that come to life? Yes please. This book definitely drew me in immediately, especially with that gorgeous cover.

⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊ Sydney, a promising mycologist, feels like she has nothing left. Her family is gone, her scholarship lost, and now all she wants is to find a cure for the one thing that took her grandmother from her: Alzheimer's. She has been offered an internship at the Madrona Foundation, a research facility on a remote Vancouver Island, where she can study the fungi that might contribute to the cause she holds so near and dear. When she gets there, however, things start to seem sideways, and not all what she signed up for. 🍄💀

⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊ I really enjoyed so much of this, and thought it was pretty balanced in terms of the romance, spice, plot, science and horror aspects. There was just enough spice to not overthrow the plot. I cannot stand when a book is just spice and no plot, and this did the trick for me. However, the spice we did get was spicing and absolutely perfect.🔥

⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊ The characters were all pretty solid. The ones I was supposed to dislike, I definitely disliked. Our FMC definitely fit the bill, but I wanted to shake her a million times and say "trust your instinct". Our love interest and MMC was not at all what I thought, and it was a nice surprise at the end. Munawar and his fungi pun shirts were my favorite, though. If you find no reason to want to read this, give this man and his collection of fungi related attire a chance.

⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊ Overall, I really enjoyed Karina Halle's writing. She did a beautiful job of giving us a little bit of everything, and I certainly did not see the plot twists coming. I have so many of her books of my TBR and this made me want to dive in and see what else I'm missing out on. If you are looking for another quick, haunting read to finish spooky season off, let it be this!

🍄‍🟫 Thank you to NetGalley, and Metal Blonde Books for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review! 🍄‍🟫

This was not the wholesome Halloweeny vibes I initially thought I was getting in this book - absolutely nowhere near it - but I think I loved it anyway? It was the perfect combination of intriguing, scary, spicy and mind-bendy.

The atmosphere and vibes in this book were great for this time of year. Everything was so dark and gloomy and mysterious and foreboding. I thought I'd cracked what was really going on when I was about halfway through the book and I was pleasantly surprised to realise that I wasn't completely correct. I knew a twist was coming, but I actually liked it better than what I'd originally thought was going on.

I really liked Sidney as the main character, and I loved watching everything unfold around her and trying to guess at what was going on just as she was.

I did feel like everything was a little deflated by the end. We had all of the suspense and build up and revelations and the ending just felt little flat compared to the rest. I was just expecting a little more, or something more dramatic than what we got. I feel like Clayton especially never got the justice he deserved.

Ended my October with this perfect Halloween read! What a phenomenal journey it was reading this book. The plot, the writing had me HOOKED!

Thankyou Karina Halle and Netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own!

#GraveMatter #Netgalley

Such an amazing read! Not sure if I was gonna vibe with this book but I ended up getting hooked and thinking I knew what was going on etc. Such a great storyline and perfect for the month of October!

the twists be twisting, the spice be spicing, a 5/5 read and I wholely suggest you pick it up ASAP, don't walk, RUN

First I would like to thank NetGalley, Metal Blonde Books, and Karina Halle for a free copy of this eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Karina Halle has been one of my favorite authors in the last year I’ve discovered her and I felt so much excitement getting to review her new book! The mystery behind all of it was so well developed, I couldn’t put the book down at all.

Overall the story is well written (including the 🌶️ scenes) with a fascinating storyline. I truly had my own predictions for how the book would end and I was surprised and happy to be wrong!

Grave Matter by Karina Halle is a phenomenal blend of sci-fi fantasy romance and gothic horror.
A fantastic and engaging story that absolutely had me hooked till the very end.
I couldn’t stop reading this book.
The world building here is done very well, totally easy to follow and has you captured from the beginning.

Grave Matter was the perfect October read. Spooky, believable, and thrilling. My first horror romance and it was a doozy! Highly recommend for thriller/horror fans and will purchase for libraries.

Grave Matter by Karina Halle
Release Date: 10/23/24
Format: ebook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I had the pleasure of seeing Karina Halle at Books Gowns & Crowns earlier this month and after hearing her talk about Grave Matter for literally one minute, I knew I had to read it immediately. Psychological thriller/horror mixed with romance? Say less.

I was so right. I fear this book will become my new personality. Is it going to be for everyone? Maybe not. But it is gross and creepy and beautifully written. It kept me engaged from first to last page, and was honestly the first book I have solely read with my eyeballs (without any audio assistance) in over four months.

I could write an entire review on how the ADHD representation alone made me feel so seen. The amount of lines I highlighted in this book is embarrassing. The ways Halle chose to present our FMC’s struggles with ADHD just felt so spot on and it was refreshing to see some lesser written about (and often shame inducing) symptoms in this book.

I did not see the twists coming, I absolutely loved the romance and friendships in this novel, and it is a perfect October read! Check the content warnings because there are some hard to read scenes, but I feel like it is fully worth the discomfort.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

<b>If you have a spooky season TBR, Grave Matter by Karina Halle should be added to it without a single moment of hesitation. Get ready to lose yourself in a foggy creepy island with nature's miracles, groundbreaking and terrifying scientific research, people with all kinds of intentions and a sizzling hot forbidden romance with loads of angst. At the end, you may feel like gliding through a hazy air while your heart is aching yet full of feels. A masterpiece from Karina Halle.</b>

💀 psychological thriller
💀 Gothic romance
💀 touch of science fiction
💀 forbidden romance ( professor/student or doctor/patient)
💀 dark romance
💀 neurodiverse heroine

<b>Sydney arrived in the island housing the laboratory and research of Madrona Foundation for her scholarship. No one knows she has lost her academic career at Stanford. She is eager to learn about their work with fungi and Alzheimer's Disease. But she is feeling disbalanced from the moment she steps foot into the island. The people who are running the foundation seem to have some other motives. Professor Kincaid, who also does therapy sessions for students attending the internship programme, attracts Sydney in a strange but powerful manner.

The author drags you deep into the story with wild hallucinations and visions and dreams experienced by Sydney. The nature with the rain and fog, old trees towering over the lodge, freezing sea and exotic fungi provide a perfect backdrop for the plot. I felt like I have been transported to somewhere out of this world. Sydney is lost and her mind is all over the places. Her electric connection with Kincaid is complicated. Kincaid is the perfectly flawed Alpha hero trying to protect Sydney. The chemistry is scorching hot but the emotional bond is even more beautiful. It is a very difficult book to review without spoilers. Nothing is real here. Except may be the danger. The author takes you to the edge of absurd fear and sheer terror. You can feel the invisible pieces moving but you cannot put them together till the end. The characters have endless shades. The secrets are terrifying and heart stopping. But it is a romance after all and love conquers everything.</b>

Karina Halle has crafted a twisted and mindblowing story in Grave Matter. Kincaid and Sydney battled death and destruction over and over again and their happily ever after is won in a hard way.

I reviewed an early copy voluntarily

I was impressed with how this story unfolded. There was a lot of mysterious things going on to wrap my mind around. I feel like you had to pay attention to everything because those breadcrumbs will make sense toward the end. It was fantastically shocking and right up my alley. I didn't see it coming kind of way but having some many other theories. The pacing was a little slow the first half. I believe to help us get the full picture but believe me it is so worth it. Overall, this was a great spooky read just in time for the Halloween season.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Honestly, this book cements the fact that Karina is one of my FAVOURITE authors!

This book was just.... wow!

If you're looking for a spooky, thriller, mystery, with some A-grade spice, and lots of mushrooms, you need to read this book!
It's almost a week later, and I still think about it daily!

Karina literally had me guessing to very the end, and I really did not see that plot twist coming! I had some ideas around it but the actual twist I would never have guessed.

Let me also just say that Wes Kincaid😮‍💨..... Wow that man... He can do what he wants to all my mushrooms.

Go read this book now!

First of all, I want to thank Karina Halle and NetGalley for this eARC. Here my honest opinion.

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.
Do you want a dark romance? What do you think if we add some gothic vibes and a little bit of dark academia? I guess that we can also make it as a psychological thriller, where you can trust no one (not even yourself), with a sci-fi subplot. Obviously, there wil be spice. A lot of spice. Doesn’t it sound good?
Well, that’s what you get with Grave Matter, a compelling dark romance that you won't be able to put down. I liked everything: the setting, the characters, the suspence that never leaves you. There’s also a touch of horror that emerges in the right time and the right place. I loved how the spice was managed, used to add more thrill.
It’s just the perfect read for this spooky season!

Woo buddy. Real talk, Grave Matter would not normally have been something I'd just pick up, but when Karina Halle announced she was doing a psych thriller with spicy, I knew I had to give it a shot!

This is everything you could want in a psych thriller. I lost count of the amount of times I said "wtf" in my head before immediately diving back in to keep reading. Right from the start, Karina is dropping moments and hints that foreshadow where the story is going, but just as I thought I might have figured it out, she threw another curve ball at me! This was even more awesome because I've actually been to Vancouver Island, and visited areas of the island that are very reminiscent of the setting for Madrona Lodge. I really loved too that the plot of this was sci-fi but not so far sci-fi that you couldn't actually believe it might happen.

A word of caution - when you think the twists are over, you’re wrong!