Bookmarked: Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
Normally I make a playlist for each of these books, however CJ Leede actually had one for this book so I used that one, mine is missing the song Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo because I hid that song and Spotify will not, for reasons beyond my understanding, let me unhide it for this playlist.
Content Warnings: Misogyny, Blood, Non-Consensual Groping, Drug Use, Disney Adult (Derogatory), Death, Drinking, Strip Clubs, Racism, Doxxing, Masturbation, Porn, Loneliness, Sex, Nudity, Genitalia, Violent Fantasies, Sexual Fantasies, Violence, Mutilation Fantasies, Derealization, Sociopathic Tendencies, Mental Breakdown, Torture, Spiraling, Gore, Body Horror
The Summary
Maeve, a young woman living in Los Angeles who works as an ice princess at an amusement park, spends her free time drinking, reading, and observing the people around her. Maeve has a fascination with dark stories and violent characters, and she finds herself increasingly drawn toward the darker side of her own personality. When her best friend's brother arrives in Los Angeles, Maeve's carefully controlled life begins to unravel, sending her down a disturbing path of obsession, violence, and self-discovery.
The Review
I had high hopes for this book, and I have to be honest I think it delivered on a lot of them, but it sort of fell flat in some areas. Because of that I'm going to get into the things that I liked about it first and then I'll get into where I think it under delivered.
Starting off strong I love Maeve. She seems very unintentionally funny, which I can appreciate, and in some ways I can see a lot of myself in her character. She's simultaneously imaginative and very blunt, she doesn't really care what people think, and I think that's a great quality for a horror main character to have especially considering that she is our villain. Her relationship with her grandmother, Tallulah, and her grandmother as a character reminds me a lot of my own relationship with my great grandmother and just how my great grandmother was.
I think we get to see a lot about how Maeve thinks in the way that she speaks about her grandmother. She considers Los Angeles and herself as an extension of her grandmother, and I think this act of putting Tallulah on a pedestal as if she is an all knowing goddess is a very interesting thought process.
I loved the tie ins with music throughout the book, especially because, as I mentioned above the author actually made a playlist for this novel which was really cool I usually have to make them myself but I love being able to listen to a character's playlist.
Additionally I loved the reveal of Maeve's true nature, I truly don't think that could have been done any better and still fit her character. Her slow spiral throughout the book was just simultaneously hard to read but also kind of understandable? I need to see more women in horror absolutely crashing out!
I only have 3 critiques for this book the first is that I wish we got to see more of Maeve interacting with Gideon and Tallulah, I think that would have really made the ending hit a lot harder. The second is I wish we were able to see a little bit more of the death scenes. I'm sure they would have pushed the book into more of a splatter horror situation but I'm a little nosey y'all I want all the nitty gritty details. Finally, I really wish that we could have seen Maeve get back at Kate a little bit.
If you loved the movie or even the book Pearl I think this is definitely the book for you. Maeve kind of reminds me of Pearl just a little bit so I think you guys would really like this book if you enjoyed that series, I know I did.
Closing
Overall this book was AMAZING I cannot recommend it more to you guys. If you want to grab your own copy I will leave it linked here. I am on to The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling! If you want to see more from me feel free to click the link below where you can find my other socials. Y'all take care, and thanks for stopping by!
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