Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of Fragile Animals. It's out now!

Fragile Animals follows Noelle, a young woman who decides to take a 'writing holiday' to the Isle of Brute. There, she meets a strange man named Moses, who insists that he is a vampire. As their relationship progresses, Moses becomes a catalyst in Noelle's reckoning with her childhood traumas stemming from her religious past.

I pretty strongly believe this is a "it's not you, it's me" type of reaction I'm having upon finishing this book. On paper, it's everything I love: wintery, gothic atmosphere, Catholic trauma, trauma from having a shitty relationship with your parents, and vampires. There's a lot here that I should love, and I did enjoy them individually, but as a whole, it never quite came together for me. All of the plot points felt so disjointed and, unfortunately, a lot more tell-y than show-y. I never saw why exactly Noelle had all of this deep seated religious trauma. I wanted so much more from that.

So much of what happens is weighed down by the prose, which is at times beautiful but also at times overwrought and exhausting in its abundance. The narrative really, honestly, felt like a slog until the last like 15% of the story. There would be pockets of interesting things but in between that it was Noelle rehashing the same things without revealing anything to the reader because it was all saved for that last 15% of the novel.

I also never fully connected with Noelle as our main character. I never really understood her motivations behind her actions, either in the present or in the past. The motivation can be being deeply unhappy and unable to cope with your past, but that can still be conveyed in a way where it makes sense why the character does and says the things that they do. I never really bought that from Noelle.

I'm bummed I didn't love this as much as I wanted to, because the premise is great and the cover is stunning. I like the project of the novel more than the execution, as I've said. I can see myself returning to Jagger to see how her craft changes (if it does). We shall see.

I would recommend this book but it is best gone into blind besides that it centres a character who is grappling with her Catholic upbringing and there is a crusty vampire. That is really all you need to know...

Fragile Animals is such a weird book, but in a familiar way. The writing once it hits it's flow, within a chapter or two, is easy to fall into, and the main character, Noelle, is every unsure twenty-something figuring things out and coming to terms with her childhood. She is very well fleshed out which lead me to feel both annoyed and sympathetic towards her.

I think my only critique is that it was a bit too long towards the end, I think somewhere in the last 5-7 chapters could be trimmed a bit, so we could get to the "event" she refers to a little faster. I think this would allow the story to have a slightly better flow in it's last quarter,

A very different book that feels very literary fiction featuring a gross vampire but worth the plunge if you are open to it.

This book was a strange read for me, and I have no doubt that if my circumstances were different, then prehapes my perception of this book would be very different.

Also, being Scottish and familiar with many of the locations, I almost felt removed from the story. When our protagonist arrived on Bute, her description of the people and the attitudes felt somewhat insulting and almost Americanised. As in all the islanders are staring at her because she is new and strange, this sort of view is weirdly outdated.
Although it is obvious that the writer has incorporated her own autism with the text, it prehapes that characters' understanding and perception of social cues alters from others who are not typically nuerodivergent. Which also feels overwrought with hyperfixations and, frankly, rather odd imagery. I am unsure if this was to purposefully make Noelle unlikeable or just to really hammer home the protagonists neurodiversity. However I feel as though it's depicted in such a negative light that its almost ableist ( I say almost as I know the author is neuro diverse) there are other moments as well that are again ableist in language such as comparing noelles writing to a stroke victim, these sort of comparisons are highly problematic.
The second thing that bothered me was the descriptions of Crail. Low and behold, I also grew up in Crail and would nightly stare out over the North Sea. However, the authors' descriptions again ring false. You can see plenty of land over the firth it's not some great void of nothingness. And when the nights were dark, the light house from the Isle of May would blink consistently.
Other aspects of that little town ring wholly odd as well, such as the fun fair on the football pitch, Crail never has such a fair that and it's opposite the school that she is supposedly skipping. I understand this is a work of fiction. However, the barest amount of research has been done. It's not like expect things to be exactly right, but if you want to make things up, then why not create a fictional East Coast town.

Again, I reiterate prehapes I am very much not the audience for this, or maybe my familiarity with the places concerned are what's sucking me out of the story.It'ss by no mean necessarily ba, but I can only review my reception of it.

You will likely enjoy this if you enjoy a more grotesque style of supernatural "romance" There is nothing pretty here, in either the characters nor their pasts. It's cold and brutal and quite frankly lacking much joy.  It is still a great achievement as a debut novel, just unfortunately not one that personally have been able to enjoy.

a moody, sexy & compelling debut novel!! ❤️‍🔥

perfect for those of you looking for a book with a messy, destructive & damaged main character, with themes of religious trauma & dysfunctional mother daughter relationships aaaand a rather erotic relationship with a vampire!

Loved the cover art and was hooked by the books blurb. The gothic and sensual themes combined with the woven in religious trauma was done beautifully and had me obsessed from cover to cover. I’m so excited for the author to come into our shop this month!
This book was delicious and I ate it up.

This book was unlike anything I've read before. I was initially drawn to the concept of a recovering Catholic taking solace on a Scottish island with a vampire, but wow it was so much more than I imagined. I was entranced from the first page and I can't wait for Genevieve Jagger to gift us with more of her writing.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

this is a great debut from a very talented author and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future

Modern gothic meets feminist literary social commentary on religious trauma.

A woman travels to a remote Scottish island and meets a kinky vampire. They exchange steamy past experiences and with every exchange we learn a little more about Noelle and her troubled past.

Great commentary on the ways women are moulded to self police our behaviour and an interesting look at sexual liberation and subjugation.

At times I found the narrative hard to follow but overall this was an interesting, tense and intimate read.

Rhankyou 404Ink and Netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you to 404 Ink for this arc!!

Learning that this was Genevieve Jagger’s debut novel was astounding — this is a well-crafted, nuanced, and ambitious novel. I particularly liked that we are never quite sure whether Moses is actually a vampire; the ambiguity is a very smart choice that keeps us on our toes. I thought the themes of religion, sexuality, and parenting that were explored in this novel were done expressively and compassionately, and Noelle was a very vivid character to read through. 3.5/5!

As an adult, Noelle has a difficult relationship with Catholicism - it being both the foundation of her childhood and the collapse of her mental health and stability. Noelle wants to atone for her sins and transgressions; her multilayered guilt causes her to be self-destructive .All this, and a mysterious vampire who could be her salvation or her violence.

Fragile Animals is a captivating literary read about a trouble young woman navigating religious trauma and guilt stemming from a troubled childhood with an absent and cold mother. It's slow paced, introspective, and the prose is poetic. Check this out if you like quieter books that pack a punch.

If vampires are truly "back" and "in" for this year, this is the book that's done it. What a wild, GORGEOUS, and enchanting ride. I'd love a sequel, I'd love more. Definitely a contender for my book of the year.

I really enjoyed this. Usually I’m not really one to pick up a horror-type books but after hearing such buzz from so many of my favourite authors I was excited to give it a try and Jagger definitely delivered. A fascinating vampire sapphic story and I will definitely be reading more from Jagger.

Wow. First of all, Jagger’s prose is so weird and I’m in love. The way she describes the environment with living, breathing, human qualities sets such an unsettling tone. Almost like the setting itself is watching the story unfold.

I adored Jagger’s commitment to ambiguity. Noelle’s bisexuality, Moses’ undeath, the liminal nature of the setting…I felt that all these things added so much depth to the deeper discussion about how our binary morals and standards contradict the nature of complex humanity.

I think really the only thing that kept me from fully giving this 5 stars, is the fact that the summary states that Noelle enters into a sexual relationship with a vampire. For me, this felt like a pretty major spoiler and I so wish I could have experienced the story unfolding without the knowledge that Noelle and Moses’ relationship turns sexual. Because that sex scene…it would have hit SO hard if I didn’t know for sure it was going to happen.

I enjoyed the experience of reading this novel, and getting inside the head of the main character, but sometimes I found the structure a little awkward. The switching between her past and present was repetitive at times and took away from the progressing current plot, but it does establish a certain rhythm that I got used to. The ending was abrupt considering the build-up, but it was satisfying in a certain way. If you have any interest in vampire stories, I would recommend this novel. If you like stories about characters losing their religion, I would also recommend this.

bizarre in the best way. I loved this real, foul, unromanticised exploration of self and sex. this felt like a journey of self discovery taken together, with all the ugly parts of us helping along the way. refreshing to see vampires in this light too - so many novels paint them in a sexy light and confronting this style of man and sex and crushes was so insightful.

I loved this book. I loved this book. I LOVEEE this book.
So beautifully written (I even read the acknowledgements for genuinely the first time ever.)

Noelle, Paloma, Lorne, Miss Fraser, Moses, Her, the three Fathers.
All wonderfully developed characters, each you believe they are one person then proved otherwise by great character building.

‘The mountains on the horizon look like the backs of wild boar’

5 stars and the best book I’ve read so far this year.

SPOILER/TOO MUCH INFO INCOMING —————
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I was sad for Noly and Moses, sad for her phone call with Lorne then following her ferry ride, sad she didn’t say bye to Miss Fraser.
Happy she chose to live.

Thank you to NetGalley and 404 Ink for the eARC. My first ARC, yay!

Fragile Animals follows Noelle (Noly) as she spirals out on a remote island, looking back on her life and the memories she's been avoiding. Leaving her home, cell phone, and most belongings behind to take this last minute escape, Noly finds herself staying at an inn with the jolly yet particular inn keeper and a vampire. Noly and the vampire get to know each other through swapping the stories of their past lovers, drinking at all times of the day, and gazing into nature to see themselves. This novel is an exploration of our actions as a ripple effect and how self destruction is rarely contained to the self.

This debut novel really blew me away. I didn't expect my first experience with an ARC to be such a great match for all my literary interests. Religious guilt, cold landscapes, spiraling women in denial, this really has it all. Written with poetic language and urgent tones, it's hard to resist slipping into the distress, yearning, and tenderness our main character experiences. At times, I found certain patterns in the language distracting (the word "cacophony" makes a lot of appearances) but it was never enough to make me want to put the book down. The timeline jumps around and while I like being pulled between present and past in stories, I know that isn't the case for every reader. Overall, an incredibly impressive debut. I'm really excited to see what Genevieve Jagger does next, I could easily see her becoming an author whose work I follow closely.

Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger is a spellbinding debut that explores love, trauma, and the intersection of religious upbringing with forbidden desires.

The story follows Noelle, a woman burdened by the shadows of her Catholic past, as she seeks solace and soul-searching on the remote Isle of Bute. There, she encounters a mysterious man who claims to be a vampire, and their connection ignites through shared confessions and the allure of the forbidden. As their relationship deepens, Noelle is confronted by the haunting memories of her upbringing. With each revelation, Noelle is forced to confront the fragility of her beliefs and desires, ultimately grappling with the true nature of love and redemption and the role she played in the events.

Fragile Animals is quite slow-paced and reflective and heavily explores Catholic guilt and trauma, which was incredibly relatable. Jagger's prose weaves a tapestry of beauty and darkness, drawing readers into a world where the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur so cohesively. The magical realism element with the vampire storyline gave me Mona Awad vibes, making this a fitting addition to the 'weird girl books' genre.

When I read the description, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was intrigued, and I think it delivers. I liked the writing style though it did feel a bit hard to follow at times, the characters were interesting, and it's quite introspective, particularly about religious trauma. I don't think I'm exactly the right audience for it because I don't feel that 4 or 5-star feel, but I'm happy I went a bit outside of my comfort zone for this.

This was quite a unique experience. When I read the description, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was intrigued, and I think it delivers. I liked the writing style though it did feel a bit hard to follow at times, the characters were interesting, and it's quite introspective, particularly about religious trauma. I don't think I'm exactly the right audience for it because I don't feel that 4 or 5-star feel, but I'm happy I went a bit outside of my comfort zone for this.