Fairydale by Veronica Lancet
on June 26, 2025
Published by Atria, Veronica Lancet Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Fiction / Fantasy / Romance, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy, Fiction / Romance / General
Format: ARC, Hardcover
Pages: 736 
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
Source: NetGalley and the PublisherThis book is an experience. Not just a story, but an entire world steeped in shadows, secrets, and sensuality. Fairydale is one of those rare reads that doesn’t just pull you in, it swallows you whole. From the very first chapter, I knew I was in deep, and I didn’t want out.
Let’s get one thing straight: this is a long book. You don’t casually skim through Fairydale on your lunch break. This is the kind of novel you sink into with a blanket and a mug of tea and don’t resurface from until hours (or days) later, blinking like you’ve just stepped out of another realm. That’s not a complaint, mostly. But we’ll get to that.
What Veronica Lancet has crafted here is lush, layered, and haunting. The timelines, yes, plural, unfold across centuries, and every strand ties into this dense, winding web of trauma, love, loss, and legacy. The setting? Perfectly eerie, secretive, full of strange deaths and strange people. The atmosphere is a whole character on its own, and you can practically feel the atmosphere clinging to your skin.
Then there’s the romance. And Amon. Lord, Amon. He’s intense, obsessed, centuries old, and so emotionally complex I wanted to wrap him in a blanket and also yell at him, sometimes in the same scene. The relationship between he and Darcy is deeply intimate, built on more than just lust. That said, there’s heat. Plenty of it. And yes, a few of those scenes could’ve been trimmed down, because I found myself skimming a couple of the longer spicy bits toward the second half. But they serve the emotional arc well, just a bit drawn out.
Now here’s where I docked that last star. The middle does lag. With a book this long, pacing is everything, and there were sections that felt a little too drawn out. The relationship webs are also a bit tangled. At times I had to pause and mentally diagram who was related to who and how it all tied back. And while Darcy is a strong lead in many ways, there were a few moments where her reactions to huge, traumatic events felt muted or rushed, like she just emotionally skipped a step and moved on. That left me blinking a few times and having to recenter myself in the story.
Still, I can’t deny how hard this one hit me emotionally. The way Lancet weaves heartbreak, hope, and history together is genuinely beautiful. The dual, and sometimes triple, timelines come full circle in a way that’s deeply satisfying, and despite the heavy tone, the book never loses its sense of purpose or soul.
If you’re someone who loves dark romance that leans literary, who craves that gothic edge with layered characters, emotional payoff, and a love that doesn’t come easy, Fairydale is worth every single page. It demands your full attention, but it earns it. This wasn’t just a book I read, it was one I lived in.
A strong, solid 4 stars. I’ll be thinking about Amon and Darcy for a while.
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5Thank You to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.
🫶🏼 - Ali
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
I received this book for free from NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
| Rating Report | |
|---|---|
| Plot | |
| Characters | |
| Writing |  |
| Pacing |  |
| World Building | |
| Overall: | |
