I find it quite difficult to review this book as there were aspects I really liked, and others not so much. Putting on its very gothic best, the novel absolutely oozes atmosphere by the bucket load, and the writers have succeeded with this through some very skilled and beautiful writing. Character-wise however, I really struggled to connect with any of the main characters, especially Agnes, and this is perhaps because of the third person writing which I think always lacks a certain depth because it’s so hard to mentalise the inner workings of the characters. This is turn meant I didn’t really buy into their chemistry either, which I found difficult to believe, and there wasn’t enough evidence in the lead-up to the romance to convince me there was anything between them. The book meandered along, feeling increasingly claustrophobic (again, great writing), but with very little relief by way of any kind of feeling of hope, of personal growth or interpersonal development. I really struggled not to skip through entire sections towards the end, and found myself wanting a finish, rather than being particularly interested in the fate of our protagonists. Nonetheless, it’s a good first novel and a great addition to the genre.

Thank you to the publishers for granting me an arc.

I wish I could say I loved this, but I'd be lying. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it was just... okay.

I liked the relationship between Agnes and Norah but again I wasn't hooked enough to care about what happened to them, or anyone else.

I think the one character to make me feel something was Davey and he was in the book maybe 5 minutes.

I first heard about this book on Instagram and loved the title, cover and premise of 'what if the second Mrs de Winter fell in love with Mrs Danvers' - right up my street. I don't know if the Mrs Danvers comparison is merited as Agnes is a very different character, but once I got past that I was intrigued by the book's mystery and the developing sapphic relationship. A spooky gothic read for fans of Johanna van Veen and Hester Musson.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year as a lover of the gothic. Unfortunately I found this a little bit lacking in atmosphere and plot. I did enjoy it but I didn’t love it as much as I thought I was going to. I feel this had a great premise but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Good but a bit of a letdown for me

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

A new bride is drawn to her enigmatic housekeeper in this gothic sapphic tale of supernatural magic, the legacies of witches, and repressed longing. An immersive novel that fills the reader with creeping dread through the decadent prose dripping with blood and the darkly horrifying supernatural elements.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 | 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐊 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐲

I'm a fan of sapphic fiction and gothic horror so this sounded very appealing. However for me it didn't quite succeed at either. I was really hoping to like it since it was written by friends of a friend.
It seemed to suffer from pacing issues and it took forever to get going. Then the tension never really quite built. There were a few mysterious events but it took til almost the very end of the book for anything really big to happen. The romance part also took aaaaaaages to get going and I felt Norah and Gunn didn't really have great chemistry. I would also have preferred more explicit intimate scenes. These were very 'fade to black' style.

I know this was an uncorrected proof but I had to look up a few Scots words and phrases but was confused by the very American-seeming use of 'on accident' instead of by accident. Also there was one instance of crenulation rather than crenellation. I was most confused by repeated omissions of 'to be' in sentences - eg. "Not least of these was the routine of tending to Alexander who needed groomed, dressed and fed ..." This happened a few times and I couldn't find any information about this being a Scots thing. Lastly at the very end there was a typo which called MacCulloch 'MacCallum'. Hopefully this will be addressed in the published version.

Sadly I found this book rather pedestrian and mediocre, but I feel like it will actually appeal to quite a lot of people who don't want things TOO scary and don't want their romances TOO explicit.

An enjoyable though somewhat slow paced sapphic gothic, with an identifiable MC and an interesting mystery. The suspense is very low key however the setting and atmosphere are very enjoyable. This landed well because I was I was in the mood for something Gothic.

I did find this book quite hard to get into, the first 30% was probably too long, I wish this bit had been cut shorter, as the book only starts to grab your attention around 30%. Unfortunately the pacing goes right back to 0mph and it’s another struggle to get through. But then again, something happens at about 51% the hooks you win straight away. If this hadn’t been an ARC I’d have DNFd so please read this review with that in mind.

It’s easy to bond with the main character because you are just as lost as she is, although I can’t decide if that is a good thing.

Described as a horror, I wish there a bit more suspense in the book. Whenever something with the potential to be horror happens, they are flashed over by the author so quickly that it is over before it starts. In the slower parts of the book the author could have built suspense and planted seeds to get your mind going. It’s common knowledge that half of horror is your own thoughts working over time about the worst things that could happen.

The romance in the book is a very slow burn which has the air of regent yearning from the lady of the house. It’s not quite the lesbian love affair you want it to be. There are also a few grammatical and spelling errors that a quick edit would have picked up on.

The choice to make the FMC plus sized is confusing. The only thing it brings is a way for her and her month to insult her? Whenever she spoke about her weight or her size, it was only negative and I don't quite understand why the author would include a plus size woman just to constantly be negative about her size. It brought nothing to the plot, rather it’s just cheap shots.

I can see from the author's note at the end that they struggled to write the book and get it all out and that it was quite a long process until the ending which was rushed out in 3 weeks. And I think, as a reader, I can tell that I can tell that this isn't a cherished love or a passion. I feel like this story has just been written to be written. And not because the author is really inspired and empowered to tell a message.

The Needfire by M.K. Hardy is a haunting and atmospheric sapphic Gothic horror, steeped in eerie suspense and evocative Scottish folklore. Perfect for fans of Rebecca and The Hacienda, this debut immerses the reader in a world of isolation, longing, and creeping dread.

Fleeing her past mistakes in Glasgow, Norah Mackenzie enters a marriage of convenience, hoping for freedom in her new life at Corrain House, an isolated estate in the wilds of northern Scotland. But something is deeply wrong. Her husband, once warm in his letters, is distant and unknowable. Shadows flicker at the edges of her vision, ghost ships haunt the coastline, and the land itself seems to pulse with a sinister presence. Her only source of solace is the enigmatic housekeeper, Agnes Gunn, whose allure is as unsettling as it is irresistible.

As the walls of Corrain House close in, Norah must unravel the secrets that shroud her home, her husband, and Agnes—before she is consumed by them.

With lyrical prose and a chilling, immersive setting, The Needfire is a masterfully crafted Gothic tale of desire, entrapment, and the supernatural. It is the kind of book that demands to be savoured, its creeping horror lingering long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

'Rebecca' vibes throughout, but held it's own as an eery and atmospheric gothic read. Strong characters, great plot and descriptive imagery...perfect for that slow build development that I love, it pulled me in and kept me intrigued until the end.

Will definitely look out for more from this author...really enjoyed this one!

Deeply atmospheric, this story lingered in my mind.

A woman arrives at a desolate piece of Scotland to marry a man she's never met. Fleeing a past and pain she can't bring herself to consider, she welcomes this chance to start again. To build something, but in the wildness of her new land, her new house, her new relationships, she finds nothing is as it seems or she expects.

There is a deliberate slowness to the build up, a skilled luxury that allows the tension to creep in, slowly but surely. Just like the fog that presses in on the house, the sense of 'wrongness' grows more and more intense. In less skilled hands, it would have been too easy to rush to the drama, to the moments that caught in the mind but thankfully the authors allow it to grow like the herbs that are scattered throughout the text.

What follows is a delicious gothic horror, and a tale that leaves you constantly doubting the motives and actions of everyone within.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for a honest review~

A great gothic horror! incredibly atmospheric and intirguing... definitely on the slower-paced side, but the characters and atmosphere were fantastic.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an e-ARC.

I loved the eerie gothic vibes, but overall this wasn’t my cup of tea unfortunately. I felt like the story dragged a lot and it was also very repetitive. I think people who enjoy very slow paced, gothic mysteries will enjoy this book. It was just too slow for my taste.

'The Needfire' is a fabulously gothic tale that reminded me strongly of 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier. I don't think I can give greater praise than that!
Set in the remote wilds of Scotland, the story follows Norah, a woman with a secret in her past who is desperate to escape from the confines of society. But marriage is a trap, her new home a crumbling cage, and her haunted heart is burning with a longing she can barely name.
It's always a dream to read a beautifully written and well-crafted novel, as it forces me to slow down and savour every word. This one is definitely worth taking the time over.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

The ultimate case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I should have known from “for fans of Rebecca” in the quotes - it was a little heavy and slow to get a high rating from me.
However, the atmosphere and the general vibes were absolutely immaculate. Spooky, dark, beautiful. It has the potential to be utterly world shaking for the right person - I just really wish that person was me!

This was an absolutely phenomenal read - it belongs with the great classics of Gothic Horror. The atmosphere was chilling and tense, the mystery had me intrigued and eagerly reading to see what would happen next, the characters were complex and interesting, and the setting was hauntingly beautiful. I cannot praise this book enough. And on top of all that, we get a dynamic and gripping queer relationship! This was absolutely fantastic, if I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

Atmospheric and tense, this book follows Norah as she leaves Glasgow in the late 19th century for Corrain House in the far north east of Scotland. Her purpose is to marry Lord Barland - a man she has never met before, but who held the majority of her late father's debt. Used to the noise and gossip of the city, she knows it will take time to adjust to her remote and austere home, with superstitious villagers and desolate surroundings.

But her new husband is remote and vague, despite the friendship they had struck up over correspondence before the marriage was agreed. She can't make out if the housekeeper, Agnes, wants her there. The house is forbidding. And she starts having disturbing dreams...

Gothic horror isn't a genre I turn to often, but this book is very readable and once I'd started I'd often do 'one more chapter' when I should have been putting it down. The undercurrent of dread as Norah becomes more sure something is wrong gradually cranks up the tension, and her relationship with Agnes is well drawn. I could almost smell the misty landscape and dark, damp house as I read. The ending felt a little rushed, but it might just have been that I wanted to spend more time with the characters.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It is the story of Norah who is to be married to the Baron Alexander Barland and starts living in his mansion that is deteriorating slowly. The odd atmosphere and her husband behaviours make you wonder what secrets the mansion and the husband are keeping…

The whole atmosphere remained odd and fuelled the suspense around the mystery of the husband and the house. The letters were a good addition, especially as it gave more information on Norah’s life. I found the writing to be good and I didn’t expect the end.

I would rate this one a 3 stars though. The book felt too long. I don’t know if it’s because it was slow paced or because I was not really in the mood for it, but my reading experience was a 3 stars.

3.5 🌟

Great opener, setting the scene nicely on this dark, isolated dismal location.
The house and its few occupants do a great job of creating a claustrophobic feeling.
There were a few spooky moments that kept me on my toes.
I felt it hit a bit of a lull mid way, but that was just a brief moment of relaxation before the gears were upped and we went forth into the final thrilling chapters.
Very enjoyable.