'Fledgling' is a magical gem of a book that had me hooked from the very first chapter. Lucy Hope’s new gothic tale takes place in Bavaria in 1900 and it tells the story of Cassie Engel who has grown up in an extraordinary castle that sits high above a forest. Built generations earlier the castle is full of secrets that slowly begin to reveal themselves after a cherub flies in through Cassie’s bedroom window on a dramatic and stormy night. The arrival of the cherub marks the beginning of an adventure for Cassie and her friend Raphael who quickly begin to realise that something supernatural threatens the castle and those who live there. As Cassie tries to hide the truth from her parents, and to protect those she loves, she finds herself in increasingly dangerous circumstances. Hope has written a book that is mysterious, gripping and exciting. Her lead characters are engaging and relatable. Their fears, hopes and frustrations play out through scenes that are both frightening and at times very emotional. This is a gorgeous, modern, gothic novel that is packed with mystery and will enchant middle grade readers and adults alike. Thanks to Nosy Crow for allowing me to read an advance copy of 'Fledgling' on Netgalley.

A unique and distinctive dark gothic fantasy story set in the Bavarian Forest in 1900. This is a story predominantly of family and friendship, of magic and superstition. Cassie Engel lives in a peculiar house in the top of a mountain. We learn lots of incentive details about the house. Cassie, whilst the child, seems the responsible one: she looks after the maintenance of the house whilst also running around after her mother, who is a famous singer, and tending to her sick grandmother, whom she is very close to. Cassie’s best friend is Raphael, who lives on the outskirts of the nearby village of Edenburg, friendship her mother doesn’t approve of. The book starts with a cherub flying into Cassie’s bedroom. Cassie & Raphael feel compelled to look after and protect the cherub. This leads them to researching what it means. Little do they know that they will end up discovering things about themselves and their families that will change their lives together. I do feel like some of the themes & relationships could have been explored more. However, it has scope to be developed into a series where more can be explored. An extremely enjoyable read. Thank you to Readers First for an advance copy.

Fledgling is set in the year 1900 in the Bavaria forest, and jumps straight into the action with Cassie finding a cherub who has blow into her bedroom window during a storm. Hope does an amazing job of creating a gothic atmospheric setting with an unusual house built perching on a rock and the Bavaria forest. The sense of mystery is thick throughout the book, along with underlying tension and darkness. Hope has created several interesting and quirky characters all with a layer of mystery and secrecy around them. With Cassie as our main character who has a distant and extravagant opera-singing mother and a taxidermist father. The ending was quick to close but did take me by surprise with a quick turn I didn’t see coming, but also left us with a sense of mystery for what the future would hold for the characters. The cover for this book is even more stunning in person and really got me interested in reading the story. Thanks to Readers First for an advanced copy before the publication date in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a wonderful read, and I would love this book to be illustrated as the house and location that Cassie lives in just absolutely enthralled me - I’d love to see it on paper! The story is also excellent, Lucy’s descriptions were able to transport me right into it, and I was completely swept away - it’s funny, scary, and full of love, a strong recommendation from me.

The cover of this book and the blurb give a really good overview of the book and really fit in well with the themes and the storyline. It took me a little while to get into the story and I found there were lots of small sections that I skipped over. It seemed there was quite a bit of padding and unnecessary descriptions which slowed down the pace of the story. However, the overall plot was well thought out. Though in some sections you could tell where the author was leading you, there were some pretty big plot twists which I must admit took me completely by surprise. It is quite a gripping thriller and I found it did not take me long at all to finish the book as I wanted to keep finding out exactly what had happened. The characters were on the whole well written and the plot well thought out. Would highly recommend this book as overall it was a good read.