Nettle reads like an instant fairytale classic. I absolutely adored her character, she’s a misfit and has the most wholesome life. This is then turned upside down as we go into the land of fae, which is full of the usual trickery and interesting characters. The lore and myths are drawn from and expertly crafted. For a short book it certainly gives a bit of everything, some trials, fairy dances, potential romance and power plays. I loved the world-building, the characters and the magical feeling this book provides. Highly recommend and I cannot wait to see the art produced after people read this. The cover is definitely as beautiful as the words inside. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

This is such a beautiful fairy-tale story filled with all the good stuff you expect from a YA faery land - faery bargains that are riddled with deception, glamours, trickery and distraction, magical creatures and mysterious happenings.

The world building is stunningly descriptive, Bex Hogan has a very lyrical sort of style that complements the essence of this genre and the folklore/fairytale-ish vibe.

Our FMC, Nettle, is a really likeable character who doesn’t seem to fit in in her own world but that is part of her draw to me as a reader, and she’s very determined, intelligent and capable despite her naivete. Considering her limited experience with other people, her interactions and experiences in the faery realm make a lot of sense so it doesn’t feel overly frustrating or out of place.

The ending felt a bit rushed, but overall the pacing of the book was great. I think this is a perfect introduction for young teens and adults to the enchanting world and lore of faekind and fantasy novels.

Short, sweet and wonderfully whimsical!

As an avid lover of faerie and a fan of Bex Hogan’s Isles of Storm & Sorrow trilogy, Nettle was on my list the minute I set eyes on it!

It didn’t disappoint. 🥰 full of the wicked bargains we know from the classical fae, a market of danger, found family and love, this was such a cute take on the fae!

The ending felt a little bit rushed, but the book was really well paced throughout apart from those last couple of chapters and I easily could have read this in one sitting had pesky adult tasks not gotten in the way!

Nettle by Bex Hogan is a charming fable that blends folklore and fairy tale in a timeless manner.
Since childhood Nettle has loved the stories of the fairy folk that her grandmother told her, even when they cost her the friendship of other local children. She also loves her grandmother and so when she learns that she is deathly ill she takes a huge risk and finds a way into the Faery realm, a magical world with two moons and scarlet stars. In her desperate state she makes a bargain with the Faery King despite the fact that she should have know better from her grandmother's warnings - she will complete three tasks for the King and in return she will be returned home to the mortal realm and her Grandmother will be well again. Readers familiar with this type of tale undoubtedly know where this is heading, the tasks are seemingly impossible and often throw Nettle into the path of danger. Luckily she is not without friends, as she meets Conor, a young man who came to Faery through a portal centuries before and has not yet been able to perform the task that will set him free. There is also Ellion, a Shadow Faery tasked with watching Nettle on the King's behalf and whom she gradually befriends.
This is a short read that moves at a fairly fast pace. Readers who enjoyed traditional fairy stories will find a lot to enjoy here and while I liked the book, it was not without its flaws. For me the biggest issue was the character of Nettle, I wish we had just a little more to establish her character before she went to the Faery Realm and despite the revelations towards the end of the book I thought it seemed unlike what we did know of her for her to make the choice she did at the end of the book, it just did not sit right with me. I also felt like the author was trying to establish a love triangle storyline but it never really got off the ground, instead it just felt awkward and forced.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

WOW Bex Hogan has written another incredible book ❤️
I loved Nettle so much
I could picture so clearly this fantastic faery world that Bex has created with such beautiful writing and brilliant characters
I was gripped from the beginning and never wanted to put the book down
You won’t want to miss this when it comes out on October 10th ❤️💙🧡💚💜

Thank you for allowing me to read this arc on NetGalley. I thoroughly enjoyed it. With tropes like love triangle and trials/tasks, I found myself absolutely hooked while reading this short YA fairy fantasy. Would recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Cruel Prince but wanted something shorter. There is romance but not very much and it is a subplot.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. This is a nice short easy read, and it is impressive that the author manages to create a rich immersive story in such a short book. Nettles is a likeable character, although it did feel a little odd how quickly she abandoned her dream of returning home, I would have loved a final scene with Nettle and her Grandmother. There are quite a few similarities between this book and Nettle and Bone (by T.Kingfisher), with the 3 impossible tasks and involvement of nettles in said tasks, however the setting is different and it should be noted that Nettles are associated in folklore with protection, so their inclusion in both books makes sense from a lore perspective. I would recommend this to those that like fairy tales especially those involving faerie.

I enjoyed the fairy-tale setting packed with magic and mystery. Nettle is an endearing, if slightly naive MC to navigate this world with, and the journey she went on to discover the truth about her past was a good read

Sadly I didn't enjoy reading Nettle all too much. Nettle, our main character and point of view, feels like a poor narrator. Her character (not alone in the story) doesn't feel fully realised to me; she has a lack of characterisation and the narrative crumbles because of it. The writing also feels like it needs a little more nuance and emotion. Nettle [Spoiler! Nettle doesn't even see her grandmother at the end of it all. She only has the grace to send a measly letter. So what if you saved her? You've just ditched her without a goodbye!] sort of fumbles through the story like a bull in a china shop.

I do think the story had potential. There's a reason why the faery world is so intriguing. It's just too bad that it was written this impassively. I mean--Nettle goes from the human world to the faery world and it is just so... absent. There's no charm or mischief or awe. It might as well have been the human world.

But my qualms might be someone else's delight. It's snappy and to the point, action over nuance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
4 stars book from me. Loved the plot and the storytelling in Nettle and relatable, likable characters,. Loved every single second reading it.

This was an enjoyable and entertaining read but it didn't wow me . It played safely on familiar tropes and I wish the author did something a bit more daring with them. It was good overall.

I really enjoyed reading Nettle where we follow the young main character by the same name along her adventures into an unknown faerie realm.

Written from Nettle's POV, we are introduced to a variety of intriguing characters, magical places and of course a bucketful of mysteries to solve as she navigates the faerie lands. As a character, Nettle is quite naive ("I glanced about, and wondered far later than I should have whether this was a good idea.") but possesses an often underestimated (by both the reader and her fellows) resilience and ability to persist which makes her an intriguing protagonist as we want to see how she fares.

What I loved about this book were the nature of the quest for Nettle as the main structure as we follow her journey and the many fantastical elements borrowing from faerie lore as well as other myths and stories, such as shifting pathways, being led astray by magic, faerie bargains and their consequences, the separate but intertwined worlds of humans and faeries, the nod to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream with the quarrelling faerie king and queen etc. I really enjoyed her scenes with different characters such as Ellion, Connor or the market vendor Gammi.

At times, I felt the tone was oscillating quickly from very light and fairytale-like, much of it in the first half, to sudden very dark elements and heavier themes. Similarly, the voices of characters and narrator shifted between seemingly age-old story-telling register to almost present-day turn of phrases which sometimes took me out of the story.
I would have wished for more time and depth, more exploration of some of the very intriguing characters we meet along the way, such as Ellion the shadow faerie, the faerie king, and both the Forest realm faeries.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read and will certainly enthrall teens and young adult readers to explore faerie stories further.
Thanks to Head of Zeus & Zephyr for providing this ARC via NetGalley.

This had a lot of elements that I love in fantasy - a fairy-tale setting, a goblin market, beautiful and sometimes disturbing imagery. The relationships were quite realistic and the dialogue wasn't overdone or cringey.

It was darker than I expected at times, but I didn't mind it and it added to the creepy yet somehow homely atmosphere.

The only thing keeping it from being an all time favourite is the writing itself - it's not bad by any means, but it didn't grip me. I didn't feel the urge to pick it up and it took me just under a week to finish. Also, the pacing felt a bit off to me - some things developed slowly and others quite quickly (such as the ending). I suppose this fits with the fairy-tale style, but it took me out of the flow.

Overall, it's a pretty good fairy-tale and one that I'd recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Nettle is such a good book. This story is everything I thought it would be. So so so good. I gave it 4 stars because the plot was super well written, the storyline was immaculate. I recommend.

Wow wow wow!!

I always knew I was going to love Nettle; it’s written by Bex Hogan and she is absolutely one of my autobuy authors. However, I didn’t expect to get out of my reading slump and devour a book so readily!

Nettle is beautifully written and I adored the world building and the characters. It was a really interesting take on the faery realm and I loved how Bex really made it her own. I was also pleasantly surprised not to have my heart destroyed for a change!!

I would highly recommend Nettle as a wonderful introduction to fantasy and faery tales - it was the perfect length to keep the reader engaged whilst still being full of detail.

God I just loved this. It’s steeped in far magic, secrets, deception, friendship, identity and kindness. Nettle herself is an incredible main character, and I love all the characters she meets along the way. A lot of this made my heart sing with joy. Bex writes stories that grip you from the get-go and have you hooked throughout. I’d LOVE more from Nettle.

NETTLE is a gorgeous faery tale, drawing from a wide range of stories.

The book has all the seductive charm and dangerous of faeries. They are capricious and beautiful and cruel here, treating humans as playthings and hating the sight of them. The faeries are both more than and less than human all at once.

The atmosphere of the book mirrors this, bringing the world of faery to life and threaded danger through all the beautiful parts. It has the lilt of a tale told generation to generation, spoken around fires and over flickering candles.

NETTLE a very addictive tale, hard to put down (and it's quite a short tale so you can put aside the time to devour it in one should you want.) It's gripping not in the way of a high action thrillers, breathless and heart racing terror, but in the way of mist drawing you deeper into the woods than you thought you were. You want Nettle to outsmart these tricky tests and get free. You want her to get justice for other trapped humans.

The tasks at the heart of the book echo the task in The Wild Swans, though with a new twist as to the importance of the nettles. Luckily, Nettle is also allowed to talk so she can make friends more easily. The feud between the king and queen of faery feels very reminiscent of that in Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream. There are also hints of other faery stories in the Grizler and Beattie and many more characters and tales told within the pages, letting the book sit neatly alongside this old tradition of telling tales about the beautiful and dangerous lurking just beyond touch.