I really enjoyed reading this story- it was scary and graphic and full of body horror. Unfortunately I’m not sure I actually understand what happened by the end?

Myrrh is a woman searching for her birth parents and trying to discover more about her past, whilst trying to deal with the critical goblin whose voice she hears inside her head.

I picked this up because of that weird and wonderful description, fully prepared for a creepy psychological horror novel. And that’s exactly what I got!

I really loved the writing in this one, with the evocative and expressive language creating an incredibly sinister and disturbing atmosphere that makes this chilling throughout. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who loves tense psychological horror and is looking for something a bit different.

Although this was a hit from a horror perspective, the short chapters made it difficult to connect with the characters and I found the narrative to be quite disjointed overall. I loved some aspects of the book - especially how it explored adoption and belonging through horror - but just wish the plot had more time to develop.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for the chance to read this early!

*ad-pr product: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I immediately connected with the writing style of this book and couldn't wait to keep reading.

This is a multiple POV book between two characters, and whilst I do think this is confusing to grasp at first, I do think it pays off.

This to me was much more about intrusive thoughts (whether that be for mental health or just in day to day life). I think anyone can relate to this.

I do agree with some other reviews in that this is not a horror book, but that did not take away from my experience personally.

I would read other books by this author and I would recommend this book to others.

This book was not what I expected. I would consider this more literary fiction rather than horror but it definitely gave some extremely unnerving amd anxious vibes during reading it. I thought the writing was beautiful and it all came together very well. But like I said, if you're looking for horror this won't satisfy.

I love the concept of this book, however I found it a bit confusing and difficult to get through. I felt I had trouble keeping track of who was who as the story progressed, and also felt the book was very slow. The writing is beautiful and I do love the multiple perspectives, but I really had to force myself to finish the book. The end was definitely a twist ending and ties the characters back together, but it left me wanting more as it felt rushed and unfinished. I think there is a lot of potential in this novel, but I wish it had a faster pace, delved more deeply into the psychological horror aspects, and spent more time addressing the twist at the end. I do think a certain audience will enjoy this book!

This take patience and it certainly won't be for everyone but it's an intriguing look at mental health and other issues. The stories of three women entwine but most intriguing it Myrrh, who has a goblin in her head. It's not horror per se but it is a novel of psychological horror. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

Sadly, I DNFd this one. I really wanted to like this one, because I was so drawn in by the cover art, but it just wasn't for me. I am still really thankful to the author and the publisher for granting me access to this book both digitally and physically.

Is this Horror? I don’t think you can class this as horror. Literary fiction more like?

I liked the writing style, and the point of view sections were snappy. Unfortunately quite hard to follow though, and it was kind of frustrating and annoying to have to piece together the story from multiple POVs.

Not that I need to have the whole thing laid out, but possibly could have benefitted from more time on the actual plot rather than streams of consciousness musings.

It just left me feeling like I’d read half a story. Not sure the payoff was worth it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Titan Books, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Unfortunately this was confusing and ultimately unsatisfying. I do think that Hall is quite a gifted writer, but the plot here just didn’t really work for me, because I could barely follow it.

The book felt disorganized with unlikable characters and an excessive number of viewpoints. Simplifying it to just Myrrh and Cayenne's perspectives would have streamlined the story and reduced unnecessary complexity.

What a book!! We follow a few different women in this muilti-POV novella. The two characters we hear from most are Myrrh, a young woman adopted at birth and searching for her birth family (while being tormented by her inner voice named Goblin), and Cayenne, an unhappy woman who hates her step daughter and wants a baby of her own. These stories, along with a few other, come together in unexpected ways.

I really liked this - I found the quick chapters and POV changes a bit jarring at first but it really lent itself well to building up to this books unforgettable climax.

I was immediately intrigued by this premise but the actual story was not what I expected from the marketing. Like other reviewers, I question the label of horror but I must acknowledge that I cannot fully critique a DNF. Mostly I failed to care about the characters and without that immersion I struggled to continue the story.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

This is a conundrum. See, I like the writing a lot and I believe it’s a pretty great story, but I’ll argue till I’m blue in the face that this is not horror. It’s just not. I see why it was out with the genre, but it feels a little misleading. This is not what it’s described to be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for this ARC. This book will be out in April!

I started off being confused by the characters monologues, but the pieces fell into place one by one. Sad, creepy and ultimately enjoyable.

I found this book very difficult to follow. It was not clear and the plot felt quite messy. Unfortunately I found this very disappointing

3.25⭐️

Myrrh is a book about a woman who was adopted as a child going on a search to find her biological parents.

It was marketed as horror, but I really did not find this to fit into the horror (or really even thriller) genre. I would categorize Myrrh as slightly unhinged/suspenseful/ speculative litfic, and if it had been marketed that way I think I would've enjoyed the book more. There are some horror adjacent aspects included in the storyline that I enjoyed, but I don't think they were clear enough or substantial enough to place the entire book in the horror genre.

This book is written through the POVs of multiple different women. It is unclear how they are related at the beginning, but by the end we are able to see their connections weave together. The POVs were each distinct and the chapters were short, which I always love. This made the book a really fast paced and short read, and it was easy to quickly become interested in the women and the plot.

I was enjoying the book until I realized my enjoyment was just rising anticipation of a climax that really never came. I kept hoping for something shocking, and I finished the book feeling disappointed.

There were certainly some interesting themes explored here (motherhood, loss, hope, adoption, etc.) but they didn't come together in a way that felt memorable for me.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggled with this one, the writing was so jolting and the short chapters didn’t work at all. I felt it hard to connect to any characters, their motives, or their actions and I found the entire thing a little flat unfortunately.

Myrrh is a novel about adoption, belonging, and family, as an adopted woman searches for her birth parents and an unloved wife dreams of a baby. Myrrh was adopted as a baby and is now an adult looking for her birth parents whilst tormented by a voice in her head, Goblin. Cayenne is wife to a husband who seems far closer to his daughter—her stepdaughter—and yearns for a child of her own. As their stories are told in parallel, the narrative unravels their respective desperation as it builds towards the unravelling of secrets.

Told in distinctively short chapters, Myrrh moves between multiple narratives in a whiplash-inducing way that feels like it matches snippets of reason and desperation, and particularly Myrrh's own confused sense of self and time. The opening builds up a sense of dread, particularly with Cayenne's story and Myrrh's "Goblin", leaving you wondering what is going to happen and how the book is going to develop into the psychological horror that it is described as.

Unfortunately, that is where I found the book to disappoint me. If it hadn't been marketed as horror, focusing more on the ideas of adoption and belonging and family with maybe some focus on a thriller element, then maybe I would've found the ending to be more satisfying, but for me, it just felt predictable and not really dark at all, just a bit grimly predictable. It's not that it's a bad story, it's just that it is set up to be a different book, and it doesn't really delve into some of the darker elements enough. There are a couple of "unreal" elements that could be something unexplainable or something in the heads of the characters, and there's one chapter that delves into one of these in an experimental way that I liked, but the ending just doesn't really do them justice either.

I like how the story is told and Myrrh in particular is a gripping character, but Myrrh wasn't quite the book for me, with an ending that fell a bit flat. Not marketing it as horror might help with expectations, and I've seen other reviews pointing this out as well—it does have some psychological elements at times and will probably appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, but if you're coming to it looking for horror, it felt at least to me like a bit of a let down in that regard.

DNF @ 30%.

It may be that the end of this book brings things together with a satisfying 'ah, that's what it all meant!'

But I shall never know, because the journey is just as important as the destination, and the journey here wasn't working for me.

I simply felt no curiosity about how the stories of Myrrh and Cayenne would intersect, or whether there's a reason they are named after the sidekick of frankincense and a pepper respectively.


The style of writing was perhaps intended to elicit intrigue but just felt oblique to me. Some books are very much "What's going on? I want to find out!', whilst others, such as this, are more 'What's going on? Actually, I don't care enough to find out.'

Also the voice of 'Goblin' had already become very grating at the point I reached.

Not one for me, I'm afraid.

Unfortunate DNF!

I just couldn't find or focus on the through line of the story. The writing was interesting and well done, but too meandering for me right now.