pandasbookshelf's review
4.0
Eve’s Rib || CS O’Cinneide
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Eve’s Rib is a domestic noir story with elements of supernatural, family drama and mystery woven throughout. Told from three alternating perspectives; Eve’s, her husband Richards and their teenager daughter, Abbey. Through these narratives we get a glimpse inside at each character’s thoughts, motivations and secrets. Eighteen years prior to the start of the story, Eve, a witch called on the “Ragman” a dangerous entity when she was desperate to conceive a child. Now she lives with her husband and daughter where they are still recovering from the traumatic death of their youngest child. What follows is part-family drama about trauma, grief and relationship and part supernatural eerily mystery as strange things keep happening to anyone who gets in Abbey’s way.
This is my first book by this author. I enjoyed the deep themes and relationships between the characters. The supernatural elements gave this one a unique twist and depth making it more than just a family drama. The pacing felt slow-medium, however this wasn’t a bad thing allowing us to really get a detailed sense of this complex family with more than a few secrets going on. It was hard to decide whose perspective I enjoyed more as they all added something different and each had their own secrets, motivations making you unsure who to trust.
Overall, this was a fantastic and enjoyable read. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel.
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Eve’s Rib is a domestic noir story with elements of supernatural, family drama and mystery woven throughout. Told from three alternating perspectives; Eve’s, her husband Richards and their teenager daughter, Abbey. Through these narratives we get a glimpse inside at each character’s thoughts, motivations and secrets. Eighteen years prior to the start of the story, Eve, a witch called on the “Ragman” a dangerous entity when she was desperate to conceive a child. Now she lives with her husband and daughter where they are still recovering from the traumatic death of their youngest child. What follows is part-family drama about trauma, grief and relationship and part supernatural eerily mystery as strange things keep happening to anyone who gets in Abbey’s way.
This is my first book by this author. I enjoyed the deep themes and relationships between the characters. The supernatural elements gave this one a unique twist and depth making it more than just a family drama. The pacing felt slow-medium, however this wasn’t a bad thing allowing us to really get a detailed sense of this complex family with more than a few secrets going on. It was hard to decide whose perspective I enjoyed more as they all added something different and each had their own secrets, motivations making you unsure who to trust.
Overall, this was a fantastic and enjoyable read. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel.
josephinebean's review
5.0
rated: 5 stars
this was actually a book written so perfectly for me with all my favourite tropes of complicated family relationships and an on the edge of your seat thriller and magic!!!! god i love a bit of magic
i absolutely devoured this - i thought it was excellently written and the changing of pov characters and tenses really suited the story and helped lay out exactly what was happening. the ending was a real switch up too which i really loved.
i will be thinking about this book for a while i think.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.
this was actually a book written so perfectly for me with all my favourite tropes of complicated family relationships and an on the edge of your seat thriller and magic!!!! god i love a bit of magic
i absolutely devoured this - i thought it was excellently written and the changing of pov characters and tenses really suited the story and helped lay out exactly what was happening. the ending was a real switch up too which i really loved.
i will be thinking about this book for a while i think.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.
tangiblereads's review
4.0
Eve's Rib is a magical sad tale of a family struggling in not so productive ways in the aftermath of the son's death. Suspecting the daughter of being evil but loving her all the same, she fights to protect her, amidst everyone trying to deal with grief and heal. Everyone has secrets they are hiding, but the mom is all knowing. This book was suspenseful and kept me guessing. And it kept throwing bomb secrets every time you turn around. I like everyone is flawed, although most of these characters I did not like. Book had many funny parts too. I liked the 3 POVs, especially the journaling by the daughter. You get to see the overlap in information to put together the story. Great story. Book provided as an ARC via #NetGalley.
lilibetbombshell's review
2.0
I usually love a good “bad seed” book, and I had hoped this was going to be one of those really screwed-up and mind-warping mommy issues horror novels I've loved in the past. Sadly, this was not meant to be, as “Eve’s Rib” just turned out to be for the most part just very slow and boring.
I kind of got the gist of what O’Cinneide was trying to put out there with this book, and I appreciated the effort, but the book wasn’t scary, and it certainly never reached the level of horror for me. I didn’t understand a lot of what was in the book had to be put in there, as it felt like filler material, and some of the writing was not only sloppy, but downright off-putting in both description and phrasing.
I’m finding it hard to put into words just how to more fully describe this book other than I’m sad it didn’t fulfill the potential of the plot and that with more work and editing this book could’ve been a better creature than it currently is.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for granting me access to this title. Due to personal policy, this review will not be posted to any social media or bookseller website because of the 3 star or under rating.
File Under: Occult Horror/Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Horror/Occult Fiction/Just Not For Me
I kind of got the gist of what O’Cinneide was trying to put out there with this book, and I appreciated the effort, but the book wasn’t scary, and it certainly never reached the level of horror for me. I didn’t understand a lot of what was in the book had to be put in there, as it felt like filler material, and some of the writing was not only sloppy, but downright off-putting in both description and phrasing.
I’m finding it hard to put into words just how to more fully describe this book other than I’m sad it didn’t fulfill the potential of the plot and that with more work and editing this book could’ve been a better creature than it currently is.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for granting me access to this title. Due to personal policy, this review will not be posted to any social media or bookseller website because of the 3 star or under rating.
File Under: Occult Horror/Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Horror/Occult Fiction/Just Not For Me
kjanschitz's review
4.0
This novel does the unreliable narrator really well. The story moved at a good pace and I liked how the author revealed parts of the plot that were not explained earlier in the novel as the book progressed, so there were always small reveals throughout the story. While I wasn't always a fan of how Abbey's POV was written, it didn't detract from the story and paid off at the end.
sabireads84's review against another edition
3.0
3,5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley , C.S.O’Cinneide and Dundurn Press for providing me with an advance copy of “Eve’s Rib”, in exchange for my honest opinion.
The cover. A black raven, blue background. It’s creepy, looming doom. I was wondering in the beginning what that will tell me about the story.
The story is told from three perspectives, Eve, her husband Richard and their teenage daughter Abbey.
This book has a touch of dark magic. Eve struggled to get pregnant and turned for help to the Ragman. Fast forward 18 or so years, she feels highly protective of Abbey, as she is not like other daughters. On top of that they lost their young son Michael in a tragic accident. Now the family is at a standstill. They live their lives, but not together. Eve is grieving, Richard has an affair and Abbey seems cool like a cucumber. Until people around her get hurt. Does she have powers like her mother? Is that all the revenge for using dark magic to conceive Abbey? Read and find out!
I did like the touch of dark magic, the book has a kind of gothic, domestic noir thriller feel to it. I found the beginning rather slow, reading thought the first quarter, waiting for something to happen. If you like the slow burn style, this one is for you.
I would have liked a trigger warning, as I seriously hate to read about the death of animals. Can’t do it.
Other than that, read the book in one sitting as it got better and better toward the end!
Thank you NetGalley , C.S.O’Cinneide and Dundurn Press for providing me with an advance copy of “Eve’s Rib”, in exchange for my honest opinion.
The cover. A black raven, blue background. It’s creepy, looming doom. I was wondering in the beginning what that will tell me about the story.
The story is told from three perspectives, Eve, her husband Richard and their teenage daughter Abbey.
This book has a touch of dark magic. Eve struggled to get pregnant and turned for help to the Ragman. Fast forward 18 or so years, she feels highly protective of Abbey, as she is not like other daughters. On top of that they lost their young son Michael in a tragic accident. Now the family is at a standstill. They live their lives, but not together. Eve is grieving, Richard has an affair and Abbey seems cool like a cucumber. Until people around her get hurt. Does she have powers like her mother? Is that all the revenge for using dark magic to conceive Abbey? Read and find out!
I did like the touch of dark magic, the book has a kind of gothic, domestic noir thriller feel to it. I found the beginning rather slow, reading thought the first quarter, waiting for something to happen. If you like the slow burn style, this one is for you.
I would have liked a trigger warning, as I seriously hate to read about the death of animals. Can’t do it.
Other than that, read the book in one sitting as it got better and better toward the end!
apagecastingwitch's review
3.0
Overall the thriller aspect of this was good. Normally I’m one to LOVE a witchy/thriller mash up, but the witchy parts of this one just felt a bit out of place. **spoiler** The last twist at the very end was a shocker in the sense that you get the o oriel twist and then assume the daughter isn’t as bad as you think and then BOOM.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
es_the_book_hoarder's review
4.0
I was drawn to this book by the titles and the cover. I know, I know, generally not a good idea to go off covers but I figured it was worth it, especially when I read the description. And when I read the author's note at the beginning of the book, I was even more intrigued.
Eve's Rib is a solid domestic thriller/family drama with an added element of "magick" in the traditional sense - not stage magic or illusion, but honest to goodness witchcraft - and it is an element that is interesting, but I felt that the novel could have worked well without it in some ways.
That being said, it is there and it does have a part to play, particularly in the later parts, and especially as we reach the climactic scene near the end of the book.
This is a slow burn, told in alternating sections by three unreliable narrators. The story unfolds with small reveals throughout, and eventually all parts converge and we're shown the "truth" we've been seeking out. But in all that was good, I felt that a lot was lost, left behind, or flat out ignored. And on reflection, I think that was kind if the point. I think you have to read this novel and see the symbolism and metaphor within it to truly appreciate what the author is trying to achieve...
I don't want to spoil anything here for prospective readers. This can be read and enjoyed as a straightforward thriller, and my initial thoughts on it were from that perspective. Yet I find myself peeling back layers, connecting threads and considering the quite intense, deep themes that run throughout this book, along with the symbolism and metaphor, days after I gasped in shock-horror at the revelations on the final pages, which seemed, at the time to be far simpler than they have now become.
As a reader, I find that is a good thing, and hope it is the author's intention to provide a story that can be enjoyed both as a "standard" thriller and as something else entirely. If not, and you decide to give this one a go, you won't regret it either way.
My initial thoughts on this book were very superficial and that was reflected by my original rating for this as 3.5 stars, and an overall CAWPILE rating of 6.42. On reflection, my ratings are now as follows.
Star Rating: 4
CAWPILE Rating: 7.71/10
Characters: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 9/10
Plot: 8/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Eve's Rib publishes on 18th October 2022.
Many thanks to the author, Dundurn Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Eve's Rib is a solid domestic thriller/family drama with an added element of "magick" in the traditional sense - not stage magic or illusion, but honest to goodness witchcraft - and it is an element that is interesting, but I felt that the novel could have worked well without it in some ways.
That being said, it is there and it does have a part to play, particularly in the later parts, and especially as we reach the climactic scene near the end of the book.
This is a slow burn, told in alternating sections by three unreliable narrators. The story unfolds with small reveals throughout, and eventually all parts converge and we're shown the "truth" we've been seeking out. But in all that was good, I felt that a lot was lost, left behind, or flat out ignored. And on reflection, I think that was kind if the point. I think you have to read this novel and see the symbolism and metaphor within it to truly appreciate what the author is trying to achieve...
I don't want to spoil anything here for prospective readers. This can be read and enjoyed as a straightforward thriller, and my initial thoughts on it were from that perspective. Yet I find myself peeling back layers, connecting threads and considering the quite intense, deep themes that run throughout this book, along with the symbolism and metaphor, days after I gasped in shock-horror at the revelations on the final pages, which seemed, at the time to be far simpler than they have now become.
As a reader, I find that is a good thing, and hope it is the author's intention to provide a story that can be enjoyed both as a "standard" thriller and as something else entirely. If not, and you decide to give this one a go, you won't regret it either way.
My initial thoughts on this book were very superficial and that was reflected by my original rating for this as 3.5 stars, and an overall CAWPILE rating of 6.42. On reflection, my ratings are now as follows.
Star Rating: 4
CAWPILE Rating: 7.71/10
Characters: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 9/10
Plot: 8/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Eve's Rib publishes on 18th October 2022.
Many thanks to the author, Dundurn Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
markedwithanm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death
wanderingdogfarm's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0