As a Pan Macmillan employee I had heard lots of great things from my colleagues about this story of toxic lesbian vampires. I love how VE Schwab does different time periods and the way she describes the scenery - like the warmth that light can bring or how a room changes when a person enters it. The pacing is a little slow for the first two thirds but the last section is great.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is haunting, lyrical, and utterly mesmerizing. From the first page, I was pulled into Schwab’s signature blend of melancholy and magic, where every sentence feels like it was carefully carved from darkness and longing. The story unfolds like a ghostly whisper, carrying themes of love, loss, and the inevitability of time in a way that lingers long after the final word.

What I love most is Schwab’s ability to make the supernatural feel deeply human. The characters, though shrouded in mystery, feel achingly real, and the atmosphere is thick with quiet sorrow and aching beauty. I found myself rereading certain passages just to savor the way she weaves words together.

If you love stories that feel like poetry and ghosts that haunt more than just the page, this one is for you. Schwab has once again proven that she knows exactly how to reach into a reader’s chest and leave fingerprints on their heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I really love V.E Schwab as a writer, the way the writing pulls you in and keeps you engaged and intrigued is one of my favourite things. While I loved the premise of this book and the plot, I did find it very slow paced which I can appreciate there are two different storylines going so it's completely understandable but for me it just didn't work, If you are able to get through the first 200 pages though the last part certainly does pick up and moves rather quickly with the action and I found myself enjoying it a lot.

It is a really beautiful story and you can see how much V.E Schwab has put into telling the story of these characters and I know some will absolutely love it for the lesbian Vampire story it is.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this before publication, these are my honest thoughts.

TOXIC LESBIAN VAMPIRES !!! 🩸💀📚🍷🌑🏳️‍🌈

My most anticipated read of the year did not disappoint. I've been waiting to read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil since 2023 when Schwab was writing it and talked about her "toxic lesbian vampires" when we saw her in Leeds.

* I was gifted an early copy in exchange for an honest review 🫡

I could say this book is like Killing Eve meets Anne Rice meets the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. But that wouldn't quite be accurate. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a deeply rich and unique take on the vampire novel. Eerily familiar and refreshingly new.

I've always loved Schwab's style of writing, but something about the prose in Bury Our Bones is so magical, it practically sings. From Spain to Paris to London to Boston, this tragic tale spans centuries and thousands of miles.

Just when I thought I had a grip on where it was going, the story took a sharp turn. It takes you by the hand down familiar corridors only to suddenly find yourself at the top of a dark staircase, a pressure on your back.

It's about how people can have similar wounds but in different shapes. It's about humanity and how it gets eroded away. It's about the stories we get to tell, and the ones others try to tell for us. It's about hunger.

It's about control. The control men have had over women throughout history. Women taking back that control. The control loved ones have over us, healthy and toxic equally. Taking control over your own story.

I loved my time spent in these pages and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of darkness.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is out 10th June 2025 💀

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is an atmospheric, multi-timeline novel following three young women whose lives intertwine across centuries. Set in Santo Domingo de la Calzada (1532), London (1837), and Boston (2019), their stories grow like roots in the same soil—twisting, reaching, and, eventually, biting. The way these stories knitted together was so clever and compelling, revealing unexpected connections and echoes across time.

Of the three perspectives, I found Maria’s the most engaging. Walking in her shoes and witnessing how she reshaped her identity, choosing another name and forging her own path, was fascinating. We have bold, defiant women making dangerous/toxic choices, resisting the expectations forced upon them. We have insecurities, grief, loneliness, hunger, and desire, all threaded through their lives in ways that felt both raw and haunting. Schwab’s writing, as expected, was beautifully crafted, enhancing the eerie, gothic undertones.

However, the book did have its downsides. The pacing felt slow, particularly near the end, making it drag more than I would have liked. I also struggled to connect with Alice’s storyline throughout the book, which made her sections less compelling for me. However, near the end, I understood.
While the structure of the novel was intricate and well-executed, the overall experience didn’t fully grip me.

If you enjoy slow-burn, intricately woven historical fiction with a gothic touch, lesbian vampires, this might be worth a read. While it wasn’t a standout for me, it had moments of brilliance—especially in how these women’s lives intertwined across time.

Haunting, atmospheric, and beautifully written—V.E. Schwab once again delivers a story that lingers long after the final page. Dark, poetic, and full of emotion, this book is a masterpiece of gothic storytelling.

If you'd told me I'd accidentally read a 544 page book about toxic lesbian vampires I'd be like, 'nah bro, I don't have the attention span for that'.

I devoured this book. I let it slowly build and build and kept thinking, 'this doesn't seem toxic...this doesn't seem toxic...'

And then

Oh

This is horrifically toxic. This is all the toxic. This is women through history. This is the worst kind of revenge. This is no one right. Just lots of people living in shades of grey and then... wrong, wrong, wrong.

Read it. It's a treat. It's Lost soul and the Vampire chronicles but with female rage at the forefront. Beautiful.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This was a really hard book for me to review - I loved The Near Witch and Gallant and so was really hoping to love this as well but it just fell a bit short for me.

The opening few chapters I was absolutely hooked, Schwab's writing is absolutely stunning - a lyrical, gothic style that drew me in, even if not much was happening at the beginning. But then not much happened for the rest of the book as well and I just struggled to get excited about reading on. This is very much a slow-burn and if you are happy to read a book just for the writing and to read about the character's lives then you'll probably enjoy this, but I was hoping for something a bit bigger to pull us through and it just never really came.

5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this eArc.

Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Themes: 5/5
Emotional: 5/5
Enjoyment: 5/5

This book was everything I wanted it to be. As someone who liked Addie Larue, but didn’t love it, I was a little worried that another character driven book by V.E. Schwab wouldn’t grab me, but I absolutely devoured this and loved every second of it.

The characters are so well written and thought out, and I absolutely loved each one (I mean… I also loved to hate a certain character…) I thought the prose was just fantastic and it kept me hooked every time I picked up my Kindle, and the way each characters individual stories intertwined with each other was just absolutely brilliant. I did think the ending was a little abrupt, but that may just be because I was so immersed in the story I never wanted it to end!

I felt so many emotions whilst reading, particularly anger and sorrow and I just have to give props to Schwab for being able to illicit such strong emotions from me as usually when I read I don’t tend to feel so strongly but there’s just something about her writing that brings out all the emotions in me!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend to absolutely everyone. V. E. Schwab has been my favourite author for a while now and I will read anything she writes, whether that be a novel or the phone book!

One of the best books I’ve EVER read. It captivated me from the first page, hungry for more just like the women in the story. I adored how complex the characters were, they were so multifaceted you couldn’t help but love and hate them at the same time. The writing was flawless, the pace excellent - I devoured this in two days and I was thinking of it whenever I wasn’t reading it (isn’t it ironic how the women were so hungry while I was hungry for their stories?). I ate it all up and still want more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was my first VE Schwab book so I was very excited to get stuck into it. The synopsis of this book drew me in straight away - sapphic vampires across 3 different time lines? Yes please.

I enjoyed this book overall, however there were some very slow points. It is heavily character driven with the real plot not happening until the last 30% or so. I did enjoy all 3 of the POV’s and the non linear timelines.

The writing style was enjoyable to read and I will definitely be picking up more of VE Schwab books in the future!

A very good VE Schwab. Her writing gets stronger and stronger, and she in this book showcases her impeccable grace with words and turns of phrase. A slower start than some of her other books, and much more similar to Addie LaRue than anything else I've read of hers, but once it hit 60% the tension rises as the different timelines weave together. A rich depiction of vampirism, obsession, and what it means to be alive.

Have I come back down to earth since finishing this book? Not quite 😩 This is EVERYTHING!!! Bury Our Bones was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and getting to read it early was the honour of my life 😭🖤

This is a standalone multi-pov toxic lesbian vampire novel and Schwab delivers on EVERY front. We follow three main characters and they are so individually distinct - the prose style shifts for each character and it’s MASTERFUL! This book takes place across hundreds of years and the way V adjusts the prose for each time period truly transports you to each new time/setting. The beautiful writing style really brings the gothic elements to life and this book is such a valuable addition to vampire media.

V was very inspired by Louis and Lestat’s dynamic in The Vampire Chronicles which, as a huge Anne Rice fan, made this book even more incredible to read. These characters have such turbulent relationships and the emotional extremities are captured to perfection. Through our different characters and time periods this book explores female rage, hunger, and the longing for connection throughout the dark stretch of eternity 😩

The story is so intricately crafted and the way the plot weaves together as the narrative progresses is so satisfying. I audibly gasped multiple times and just FELT everything. I’ve definitely got a new favourite V. E. Schwab character, but I’ll let you decide who that it when you pick up the book 😉🫶

This book is turbulent, violent, obsessive, monstrous, and honestly everything I needed from what the premise promised. It’s a book about monsters which feels so very human, and it just spoke to me on so many levels 🥹

Thankyou SO much to @panmacmillan and Netgalley for the e-ARC - you made my entire year 🖤

Sigh... I have a love/hate relationship with Schwab's works. Some I absolutely love, some I loathe with passion and there is no in-between. Until this book.... The first half I was so intrigued and invested. Until I found out that it's not actually anything creepy (like the Gallant which I loved but rather another Addie Larue, which I loathed), but just some vampire shit and I was just so disappointed and bored for the other half.

A beautiful, and bloody, story that takes us on a journey through centuries and across countries in which we follow 3 women all trying to escape their lives and who have them changed forever through a chance encounter.

The storytelling is as lush and descriptive as I’ve come to expect from V. E. Schwab and the non-linear timeline adds to the mystery of how these woman are connected, coming together at the end in a satisfying way.

I was a bit frustrated at the slow pace, I understand that this is not a story to be rushed but it did start to feel repetitive in places. Also the POVs are told very unevenly, again I understand why but I ended up feeling like I knew too much about one character and not nearly enough about the others.

Overall this is a fantastic character focused story full of feminine rage, loneliness, love, longing and obsession that made it a throughly enjoyable read.

A beautiful sapphic, vampire story through the ages. I started reading this with no idea of the plot, just as a fan of V.E. Schwab and I completely loved it- highly recommend for fans of her previous work. The concept of “bury our bones in the midnight soil” as a metaphor for vampirism is such a fresh take and supported with such a diverse, richly written cast of characters meant I flew through it.

I think I have to finally admit that Schwab is not for me. Her prose is competant and her ideas are good but her characters are flimsy, her story structure is wobbly and she distances her readers from the action. I actually would have been fine with a slow burn unravelling of three interlinked lesbian vampires if I hadn't been so thoroughly uninterested in the chatacters.

Honestly, I’m speechless 😭😭😭😭😩😩😩😩

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil had my heart beating out of my chest the entire time. Jaw on the floor. Sweating like crazy. I just didn’t want it to end, I was truly savouring every single page because I was so obsessed with the story, but particularly Sabine. She was actually terrifying but also my favourite, and I just loved as we followed the three girls across centuries and continents to figure out how they’re all connected.

It was just full of yearning, obsession, pining, danger, bloodlust pure hunger. Everything a sapphic gothic lover girly wants in a lesbian vampire story.

It’s Schwab’s best book to date. Pure artistry.

Thank you so much for the e-ARC

Ultimately, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – a book being marketed as ‘toxic lesbian vampires’ – left me wanting more of the toxic lesbian vampire dynamic that it had promised.

Unsurprisingly, VE Schwab writes with a beautiful and compelling prose that can’t help but draw the reader in. Coupled with her trademark use of a non-chronological timeline I was quickly swept into (what I expected) to be the gothic sapphic vampire tale of my dreams. The book delivered on the sapphic energy I was hoping for; with all the yearning, longing and feminine rage I could have desired. The characters longing (and often anguish) was palpable.

However, the plotting and pacing was the biggest let down. We spend the first 85% of the book individually following the lives of characters at a languid and unhurried pace, whilst this made for a compelling character study on its own, the pacing of this was simply odd. We have Lottie who didn’t get any page time until the second half of the book, and when I believed we would finally see all 3 characters lives begin to intertwine, Alice’s POV was then simply dropped entirely until the very end of the story – leaving the reader feeling slightly disjointed at like the book is passing time with its plot diversions (the multiple side characters that we learn about for chapters only for them to never be mentioned again) rather than us reading about these for any real purpose.

What eventually dropped this book down to 3-stars though was the lacklustre ending. After over 500-pages of build-up, we simply never got any reunion of all three main characters in the present day. No reunion between Charlotte and Sabine. No moment where all three are together at once. No showdown or final battle of wits in their game. Alice simply enters the story, kills Sabine in an underwhelming matter of pages, then kills Charlotte before we see any real reaction to the loss, and leaves. Having the characters together, or plotting or even just more intertwined before the final 10% would have lessened the blow of the very abrupt ending. But, as someone who has always loved the open way VE Schwab concludes her novels, this left me feeling frustrated that I never got to see the moment that I felt the story had spent 550 pages building up to.

In conclusion, worthy of a read with an incredible prose and enough intrigue to keep the reader entertained, but hugely mis-marketed (the marketing comes across as a toxic gothic romance) with a odd choice of pacing and wildly unequal character page-time, concluding with a lacklustre resolution.

I love Schwab’s writing. Her prose is always a delight to read, and she truly masters the essence of vampirism; of what it means to be undying, and the three women of this story embody every possibility.

Everything she wrote flowed beautifully; tasted wonderful, but I never felt full. I never felt sated. It all felt too slow, too aimless, too lacking? At least in plot. This is definitely more of a character driven book, in my opinion. It’s the charting of their lives, their journeys, and I love that, but it has to be balanced with plot, and this just… didn’t have much of one? It isn’t until about 70% into the book that a plot takes shape, but it’s still not much.

I settled on 3 stars for the rating, because despite its slowness, I did really enjoy parts of it. Sabine’s chapters in the first half were downright delicious. She is the toxic lesbian vampire Schwab promised she would be, and she really did deliver on that front. These women — these monsters — are terrible people, if you can even call them people anymore, and the threads of their lives are tangled together towards an inevitable conclusion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC of this sapphic bloodbath!