A book I so wanted to love.
I saw that this book was receiving some rave reviews so felt I had to give it a go.
Sadly it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Yes it was extremely graphic, shocking on occasion and very well written.
Unfortunately I couldn't bond with the main character at all. In fact I hated her, didn't understand her motivations and felt that the whole feminist angle completely obstructed the progression of the story.
With all that said, I can see why the book recieved good review, there were plenty of good moments during this read and will no doubt check out any forthcoming books from CJ Leede.

The novel promises a unique blend of horror and psychological thriller elements, with Maeve's transformation at the center of the narrative. It explores themes of identity, darkness, and the consequences of embracing one's inner demons.

2.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. I’d heard mixed reviews from people I follow, some people loved it, some people hated it and so I wanted to check it out myself.

This is an extreme horror novel following Maeve who works at a Disneyland-esque theme park as the “ice princess” (Elsa basically) alongside her best friend Kate. When Kate’s brother Gideon arrives in L.A. he awakes something in Maeve that has been kept dormant and mayhem ensues.

This was absolutely batshit. I really liked our main character despite the stuff she gets up to. She was extremely interesting and multi-layered, she was both disconnected and very connected to reality and the world around her which made her feel more human and less like a crazy psychopath, although she is that too. The writing was thought provoking and I highlighted a lot of passages because the author really hit the mark in some places. She’s a very talented writer with a lot to say on current issues. She definitely knows how to write the female rage so if you’re into that kind of book then you will love this. It almost read like literary fiction at some points.

2.5 stars might seem a little harsh and I want to be clear that this was a me thing and not the book itself. I just couldn’t completely connect with it, I feel that a lot of really important metaphors went over my head and it felt very stream of consciousness which isn’t really for me. The ending was also very abrupt, I would have liked an epilogue at least.

I am still going to recommend this book but it is for a certain type of reader in my opinion. There is a lot of gore, body horror and downright nastiness so check trigger warnings! It was released on 19th September so you can read it now.

I feel as though it was a great idea to just wait and post my review at a later date, because I think this is one of those books that I have spoken to a different person about at least once a week since I read it! I will be honest, I was a bit on edge and not sure how I felt after reading this, but my gods, its really up there, when I think about how it all unravelled and my heart at the end was just crushed. I felt for Maeve and I loved the way the character was written and though I'm a little disturbed by her actions I felt through the book I understood the why's and the girl behind the 'ice princess' dress.

I've seen so many reviews comparing this book to others. Yes, it's like 'American Psycho'. Yes, if it was mixed with 'Clueless' via 'Mean Girls'. But it is absolutely its own entity, style and sharp edges. Wit, yes, but the bloody kind too.

By day, Maeve is a not-Disney (honest) Princess, exposing the nastiness beneath the surface of an industrial theme park. She's also Hollywood royalty, in a manner of speaking - which brings its own peculiar brand of psychopathy.

What's engaging here is that while Maeve is both unreliable narrator and fairly unlikeable character, I was engaged throughout. It's almost impossible to know what she'll do next, as her moral compass seems to shift with the California wind. I get the impression that the author is reflecting the underbelly of Los Angeles, with the gorgeous exterior and drug-fuelled, depraved underbelly, but via Maeve's voice we're just carried along. This is how it is: deal with it. Survive or be crushed, predator or prey. A cynical modern fairytale.

The humour is black as an Evil Queen's eyeliner, the viciousness as subtle and sudden as a poisoned apple. Step into this book carefully, as you might not want to walk Maeve's path with her... but before you know it, you won't be able to escape.

Recently read Meave Fly by @ceejthemoment for the Positively Horror Book Club.
I got a copy from @netgalley for review but had to grab the physical copy as it is so good! This is a fast-paced and brutal story that will keep you guessing and leave your mouth agape. Meave is a relatable character that you sympathise with, which makes her murderous acts hit even harder. There are all the references and comparisons to American Psycho, but I found that the gore reminded me in parts of Exquisite Corpse because of how sexually charged it is. This is a debut novel from CJ Leede, and She's already gained a cult following from it. Can't wait to see what's to come!

I was completely hyped up going into this book as had seen and heard so many great things about it and ngl I was considering dnf ing it at about 30% in as I just couldn't get into it and my god am I glad I did as it really picked up and omg that ending blew my mind and shattered my little black heart to pieces

Gore for days with this book,

I'll never quite be able to look at eggs on the same way.

I never knew what was about to come next with this story everytime I thought it couldn't get more gory I turned the page and and was faced with more.

I can't wait to explore more by this author

The perfect book for a bit (alot) of halloween horror

Well.

This one was A Read. I will say at the start that it won't suit all tastes. Be warned that there are explicit themes of sex, drugs, violence and torture here. It may not be for you. I'm not sure it was for me.

The story is told through the eyes - indeed the gaze - of Maeve Fly, a young woman (twentysomething, I think) working at a Los Angeles studio-owned theme park where she performs daily as one of the studio's popular princess characters, a Nordic ice princess known worldwide for her iconic song. She and her colleague Kate are very popular with the children, more so than the "classic" characters associated with the studio. (You may think you know Maeve's film and the studio, but I can't possibly comment, nor does Leede even once mention them, even among the references to mouse ears and to some, presumably public domain, characters like Snow White, Pocahontas and Cinderella.)

Maeve has three loves.

First, the connection she has with her grandmother, Talullah, an actress (and Playboy model) from the Golden Age who has taken her in. Maeve feels an affinity with Talullah, very possibly the first time this has ever happened.

Secondly, her friend Kate, who plays her character's sister. Kate is an aspiring actress who wants to make it and is prepared to do whatever it takes for that (again, it's pretty clear what that is).

Finally, Maeve just loves her job, despite the long hours, the oppressive working conditions and the corporate nonsense.

She is though at risk of losing the first two, as her grandmother is in a coma and seemingly only with months to live and Kate has - finally, finally - got the prospect of a big part, albeit she has had to humiliate and abase herself to achieve that.

Faced with the prospect of her life changing, Maeve engages in denial, haunting LA's bars, brothels and strip clubs (a fourth love of Maeve's is Hollywood/ LA) where she certainly doesn't present as an ice princess. However it's not till she encounters Kate's brother Gideon (who, ironically, is an ice hockey star) that things start to change in Maeve's world - and to get dangerous.

I found this a compelling book: the sort you have to keep reading, but also, that you are desperate to look away from. Did he really say that? Did she really do that? Maeve's outlook-as-narrator is all bound up with the idea of the woman who can be a villain without the need for a justification from her circumstances - she analyses her theme park character's iced over film and its dynamics from that point of view. But it's far from clear whether this is theoretical, or whether she would cross that line herself.

Until one particular scene involving Maeve, Gideon and unfortunate bartender, Claire...

For all the horror and gore, I found this in some ways very much a book of ideas. Behind the relationship between Maeve and Gideon - which is drawn very subtly and which is continually changing and evolving - there are ideas about how people ought to be, what they should do, and how far they might go. It's not a story where one can see a neat or happy end, and indeed, I soon stopped trying to work out where things were going at all, as that seemed to be missing the point. A degree of mystery is I think needed and I don't want to comment in too much further detail. I'll just say, I strongly recommend this book as a wildly different take on horror, but if my warnings above suggest it may disturb you, leave it alone.

Maeve Fly is a surreal walk around old Hollywood, exploring all there is to love about the town that creates the glitz and the glamour of the silver screen. It's a look at the seedier side of the city, the underbelly that runs throughout The Strip. And on top of it all sits Maeve Fly. Full time princess, part time killer. Maeve is an interesting character. She's a loner, a lover of LA and all it has to offer, and loves deeply those few who manage to get past her defences. That include her grandmother Tallulah and best friend Kate. When she feels the pair slipping away from her, things change for Maeve. And when Katie's brother comes on the scene, someone who can see through Maeve's façade, things unravel very quickly. This isn't a pleasant read. If anything it's pretty horrifying, with graphic gore and depictions of some extreme stuff. All wrapped up with a pretty smile, it's disturbing and not for the fainthearted.

I liked the setting for this most of all. The author has a clear love for the City of Angels and all its vices. There's vivid depictions of the seedy bars Maeave visits, the celebrity cameos that pop of from time to time and of course the magical park where she works. It's well described and sets the scene well of a city that reflects Maeve's personality - pretty on the surface with a dangerous undercurrent.

I liked the complicated relationships between Kate, her brother Gideon and Maeve too. Gideon and Maeve have an instant spark, a connection that seems to go beyond the physical. And it gets steamy pretty quickly. However the more interesting relationship is between Maeve and Kate. Kate who craves the limelight that Maeve cringes away from, the light and the dark. Yet it's Maeve that desperately clings to their friendship, and will do anything to keep it from falling apart even when it looks inevitable.

So why the 3 stars? The plot. It's a bit all over the place, with Maeve flitting from one thought to another interspersed with acts of extreme violence without really getting to the core of who Maeve is. It gets more and more outlandish as Maeve gets more violent, and the reader needs to suspend a whole lot of disbelief to think Maeve could get away with everything she does. In public. And the conclusion leaves everything up on the air too much for me.

Interesting characters and setting, but the plot could have been a bit more realistic for me.

I had a great time reading Meave Fly. It’s a strange, dark, trippy nightmare of a book which seems to work even though it shouldn’t. It reminded me a lot of American Psycho which I really disliked but Maeve Fly ticks all the boxes for me. The books is very funny and very dark and both elements work well together. In some way Maeve is a monster, a serial killer but she’s also real, flawed, and human and I felt great sympathy for her, stuck in a job she hates but can’t let go, watching her beloved Grandma slowly die and trying to find ways not to lose her best friend. This is a gory nightmare you can’t help enjoying.

I... don't really know what I just read but I do know that I loved every minute of it. This circa-2023 American Psycho featuring a female lead, codependent, unhealthy romantic serial killer relationships, corruption arcs, but honestly so much heart and rawness is definitely one of my favourite horror books of the whole year. Maeve was beautiful and consuming and empathetic and completely and utterly messed up. I felt for her with her crap job that she can't let go of, and I felt for her sitting at her dying grandmother's bedside, and I felt for her in her desperation to keep her best friend, Kate, tied to her. She was funny and gruesome, and there were genuinely parts in this books where I felt like I needed to clench my legs shut because the book was so confronting!

I have to say I was really excited to read this one after reading the blurb for two reasons, I unironically enjoy American Psycho (both the book and movie) and I am a Disney adult. So what better for me than combining elements of horror and social commentary with our antihero (okay she might not be an hero at all) working at the happiest place on earth as the famous part hero part villain ice queen? I’ll tell you, nothing could be better!

By day Maeve works as a character princess but by the neon glow of the Sunset Strip she haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, trying to imitate her misanthropic literary heroes. But her ‘ideal’ world is turned upside down when Gideon Green, her best friend’s brother, moves to town. Gideon awakens something dangerous within her and suddenly the world shifts beneath her feet. Suddenly untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona, a bloodier and bolder one, inspired directly by the pages of American Psycho. It’s time for Patrick Bateman to step aside, and let Maeve Fly run loose in the streets of LA.

It is no secret I love horror and enjoy extreme horror when done well. Well, Maeve Fly has done extremely well. It’s gory, it’s bloody, it’s full of trigger warnings and while it contains my pet peeve of animal death it happens off page and, slight spoiler, Lester lives so that’s all good.

I don’t really do spoilers so while I won’t comment so much on the plot I will discuss the style etc. while I have seen a few reviews that didn’t enjoy this one so much I have to say personally I enjoyed it. I think the Leede ?? does a fantastic job of portraying Maeve as someone who lives her life by adopting personalities from those she finds interesting in her books or history. I feel this was, and it might be the literature graduate in me, further exemplified in her name, Maeve Fly. This was so close to May Fly, the females of which die quickly and basically spend their life mating and reproducing, that I couldn’t see it being a coincidence. Particularly with how Maeve spirals with the arrival of Gideon in her life. In a way, despite her outlandish and psychotic behaviour for me I couldn’t help but sympathise with Maeve due to this. All her life she has hidden who and what she is, living through fictional characters and moulding a personality to what she believes is fitting, even if it still teeters on the edge of ‘sociality’ normalcy.

Leede manages to invoke these other characters and writings brilliantly, particularly with Maeve’s monologues about music, generally Halloween themed, and her behaviour. I personally don’t feel Leede’s was trying to mirror the writing exactly while some sections read alike but, for me at least, it further showcased how far Maeve had spiralled. How much was the real Maeve and how much was the influences in her life she’d taken from to create this persona to the world? Who exactly is Maeve Fly? I have to say in the novel I don’t know if we fully see her truly. We see snippets in between the influences she chooses to assimilate into her personality. I think the truest moments we see Maeve are with Gideon, but I digress.

While the social commentary is perhaps not as nuanced or focused, American Psycho was of course of its time and a completely different setting, I do think Maeve Fly has a lot to offer on modern society. The ideas of changing who we are to fit in, of taking bits and pieces, in Maeve’s case from literature, to create someone for the world to see who may be wholly different to the real us is clearly there and displayed well. But on a surface level if you aren’t looking for deeper meanings (it’s hard not too when you spend four years at university) Maeve Fly is a brilliant extreme horror offering with a female villain who I believe is memorable and enjoyable.

I fully enjoyed this from start to finish, I have a lot more to say but it would contain too many spoilers. Needless to say if you like extreme horror you will love this one but do be warned there are a lot of triggers to be found.

“Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.” Maeve Fly.

This is a rollercoaster of a read, it messed with my head and it's still with me!

Synopsis:

"By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess.

By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes.

But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet.

Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife."

My thoughts:

😱 I went in relatively blind to this book other than knowing a lot of fellow horror fans were excited for or by it.

😱 And boom, straight away I was pulled into Maeve's dark and disturbing world. She is effectively a depraved book & Halloween loving Disney Princess who enjoys killing people - so straight away I was like "I wanna hang about with you, just don't kill me" 🤪

😱 I loved the writing style and the dark humour.

😱 I LOVED Maeve's obsession with Halloween and Halloween songs - there's literally a full playlist of songs documented throughout this book. They author even has their own playlist for it on Spotify.

😱 Maeve's friendship with her BFF Kate and her relationship with her grandmother is just utterly heartwarming, despite the voilence surrounding her, you can't help but feel for her deep unwavering love for them.

😱 Her love for these two people in her life - Kate and her grandmother - highlights Maeve's desperation, isolation and disturbing view of her world.

😱 This whole story is from Maeve's POV so you spend a lot of time in her head, which I enjoyed but is not for everyone.

😱 This is extreme horror, so it's graphic and disturbing and has a LOT of trigger warnings.

😱 There's more dark romance (pretty graphic) than I expected, which isn't my bag, but if it's yours you'll love it. I just wanted (personally for my own taste) less romance and more gore!

😱 The last third of this book has the perfect amount of gory horror and twists, and the end, THE END?!!!!!

If Patrick Bateman was a woman it would 100% be Maeve Fly! I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Maeve Fly follows the titular character as she goes around her day to day in her beloved LA. She works at the happiest place on earth as a rather famous Ice Princess (or queen rather), reads at her favourite bars and cares for her Grandmother, a star of classic Hollywood, who is in a coma. When her best friend Kate introduces her to her brother Gideon and somebody starts leaving peculiar dolls around town, Maeve's life starts to become more unhinged.

Firstly, this book is not for the faint hearted. I am the least squeamish person and there were some moments that shocked me. In a good way though!

Maeve as a character and narrator is absolutely fascinating. She's flawed, yes but she also understands how the world works in realistic terms. Quite frankly, I'd feel a little murderous myself after working at Disneyland.

LA is very much a character in this book too. I have never been but I love how it was described, it gave us the clichés that we all know from the movies but also all the sordid details that would probably disgust most of us. Maeve absolutely marvels at them and that's what makes it so interesting.

The reason I've went for 4 stars is the pace. I felt like there was a bit of a lull in the second act and from the blurb I thought when Gideon was introduced things would kick up a gear. And there were moments of intense excitement and then it fell flat. The third act is incredible though and so worth getting through the slow part for.

Can't wait to see what comes next from C. J. Leede!

I had no idea what to expect from this book but it wasn’t what I got. Maeve Fly follows our titular character who has a job at Disneyland playing a princess but who is also harbouring some really murderous cravings deep down inside. Things begin to unravel for Maeve when her grandmother starts to get more and more sick, her best friend at the park begins to grow suspicious of her intentions and the friends brother, Gideon, shows up at the town and makes Maeve question everything she knew about herself.

This was a good horror for definite. It feels really Halloween-y and fun, not too gory or heavy for someone who doesn’t want to be scared to is super squeamish. It’s funny but the author also has an obvious knowledge of not only the classic horror genre but the tortured, gothic man such as in Notes from Underground and Story of the Eye.

I liked and disliked in equal measure the constant references to American Psycho. There are chapters which begin with Maeve discussing the discography of bands and the importance of a certain song in musical history. It does it best to imitate Patrick Bateman. It also has a lot of scene cuts straight from Maeve murdering someone into a ‘normal’ scene like is done in American Psycho. I understand why the author has made this choice and some of the textual references were done very well especially near the end, but it feels like it becomes the books own downfall trying to imitate one of the best written novels of the modern era. The book is nowhere near the level of American Psycho in terms of its social commentary, textual brilliance and confusion, characterisation and just overall mastery. It makes Maeve Fly seem quite superficial in comparison which I don’t think the author was going for. I really appreciated the knowledge of these books used in this novel as sometimes it worked but sometimes it really didn’t.

I found the ending quite abrupt and with a few threads I would have wanted tied up neatly which were left hanging. I did enjoy what happened at the end but felt like it needed a little bit more closure. The characters were really great if a bit over dramatic but not sure if that was the writing or not.

Maeve Fly was a super interesting and fun horror and I’d definitely recommend it to people to read during spooky season. It has its flaws but there was never a point where I felt bored or like I wanted to give up on the book because Maeve as a character really draws you in and keeps you hooked. I’d love to read more books like this which draw on the traditional masculine gothic villain and turn it into female rage - it’s a trend I can see taking off really well with-in the horror genre specifically.

C.J. Leede delivers a female led American Psycho with excellent but confronting horror debut.
Not one for the faint of heart, Leede delivers a confident, memorable and absorbing tale of a young serial killer who works by day as a Disneyland princess character from Frozen (although the name or character is never mentioned by name) delighting children and roams the bars of the LA scene by night looking to quench her lust for blood and sex - but ultimately searching for a place to belong.
The book contains some of the more graphic depictions of sex and violence that you are likely to read this year - but underneath it all is dare I say a tragic love story.
Unlike anything else that has been released this year, Leede has written one of the must-read titles for horror fans of 2023 and a book that you won't forget anytime soon.

The cover of this book had me sold straight away. How wonderful is it? Unfortunately, I didn’t find the book as wonderful. I wanted to love it, the concept and storyline sounded great, and parts of the story were fantastic. I enjoyed the transition from working as a princess in the happiest place on earth, to being a voilent homicidal maniac. It’s possible that at this point I may just be drifting away from extreme horror and weird sexual content that seems included for shock value. It was very torture-porny and it just didnt hit the mark for me unfortunately.

I know some of my bookstaghouls are in to extreme horror so definitely give it a go!

✩✩

Thank you to @netgalley and @titanbooks for this early e-arc!

Somewhere between a 2.5 and 3 stars.

I've been seeing this book everywhere and saw so many rave reviews that maybe I just hyped the book up too much in my own head.
The premise of Maeve Fly, a modern, female, American Psycho, sounded so appealing, but in reality it felt a little hammy. The internal monologue of Maeve started out great, I was really engaged with her ideas of "women are expected to have a reason, men aren't". Even the Halloween song discussions were fun, but it all just got a little too much. Pretty much all of the characters were unlikeable (which is not a negative for this type of work) but they felt distinct, which I enjoyed.

The 'Disney' aspect felt off for me. It's a fun juxtaposition between Maeve's day job and her night-time activities, but it was a little too on the nose for my liking. I understand why the author can't specify where she works, but the descriptions were heavy-handed, and it felt like the drawn out paragraphs to get around naming Disneyland interrupted the flow.
Similarly, the American Psycho references and comparisons did this book a disservice. It felt like it was trying too hard to emulate it - the bland monologue sections in particular are very Patrick Bateman describing skincare, and directly referring "Mr Bateman" was a step too far in my opinion. The entire 'rats/mice in a pipe' section was lifted straight out of American Pyscho (which Maeve does state herself) but not done as well, and the book would have been stronger without it.

Overall, I spent a lot of my time with this book either bored with Maeve or thinking about American Psycho. The first third felt so strong, but really fizzled out towards the end.

I can see why this one is kind of a love hate book. I personally loved the book. We follow the story of Maeve, Disney princess by day……… looking for something different at night! While it starts off slow it picks up the pace towards the middle to deliver the grand finale! We get our fair share of sex and gore in this one, although it may just be that I read a lot of extreme I didn’t particularly find this one too extreme 😂 another thing that I think may put some readers off is that none of the characters are particularly likeable, although I think it’s supposed to be that way. But I loved my trip through Maeve’s strange and weird life.