Starve
All it took was one time. One breakdown and I ended up behind the locked doors of Bluebone Ridge Sanitarium. Something is wrong here.
It whispers through the cracked windows, coils beneath the floorboards, and breathes in the frozen Washington air that never truly warms, even in the summer. Something hungry. At night, the screaming starts.
I'm locked in like prey, and the dark watches with hollow eyes. When someone-or something-finally sets me free, it isn't a mercy. Because whatever haunted Bluebone Ridge followed me out.
It's ancient... starving. And now it knows my scent and the taste of my blood. He doesn't know whether to devour me or claim me.
But either way, I'm sure I won't survive unchanged. STARVE is a MF standalone, folklore-esque monster romance. It does not end in a cliffhanger, and contains quite a few aspects readers should be aware of.
For a full list of potential triggers, please check the front of the book.
- Pages
- 0
- First published
- August 14, 2025
- Language
- English
- Edition
- ISBN
- 9781955540759
Shelved by 4 Litcadians
Reviews
- darkemotionalmysterioustenseMedium-paced
Started August 11, 2025 · Finished August 19, 2025
I received an arc in exchange for an honest review. I’m going to start by saying that I really loved this novel. I knew this was right up my alley when I saw the premise, and it honestly delivered. The folk-lore is there in droves, the monsters feel real, and the horror is just enough to keep you sated without overtaking the romance (which lets be real, is 90% of why I’m here). The novel starts a little bit slow, but personally I love that AJ Merlin tends to start with a heavier intro than other authors. Merlin gives us plenty of time to truly meet and understand the MC, LI, and side characters, which always ends up making me feel more engaged in the story when we hit the first plot point. And oh boy, when that first plot point hit? It REALLY grabbed me. The highlight of the book for me was the relationships, specifically the different dynamics we got to experience. It wasn’t just the MC and LI who had me captivated, after all. I absolutely hated the mother, and the therapist especially , but the dynamic with both of them was so well done, and the relationship between Hattie and Tyler caught me right in the feels. I love that in the end, they basically adopt Hattie. Finally, the dog! THE DOG! Everything about the dog! I also think that the neurodivergent experience was well described, and I appreciated how the climax was resolved. I do think that sometimes it felt a bit like the neurodivergence was forgotten about, as there were times I thought that the MC would be having a different kind of reaction then she did, but that might just be my experience and not the MC’s. My main annoyance did rest with the MC, however. She had a particular inability to follow directions that drove me insane. She just couldn’t seem to learn her lesson about it, and I wanted to shake her when it kept happening! Overall, I definitely recommend the book. I had so much fun with it, and I’m definitely going to be adding it to my re-read list.