The Faceless Thing We Adore | Hester Steel

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🌟 The Faceless Thing We Adore by Hester Steel 🌟

📚 Genre: Horror, LGBTQ+

📅 Release Date: August 5, 2025 — Purchase Link

🖊️ Publisher: Page Street Horror

🔗 Goodreads: The Faceless Thing We Adore on Goodreads

💫 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Synopsis

After a messy breakup, Aoife escapes to a remote commune in a foreign country, hoping for peace and purpose. What she finds instead is a sex-fueled community devoted to a mysterious god, and cracks beneath the surface that hint at something much darker. With whispers of fear, rot spreading through the land, and a locked cabin no one talks about, Aoife is forced to confront the truth. When everything falls apart, she alone must decide the fate of their twisted little world, and discover the strength she never knew she had.

My Thoughts 💭

🔍 Why I Picked This Up:

The title and cover alone had me intrigued, but the mention of creepy cults and LGBTQ+ chaos really sealed the deal.

I want to give a huge thank you to Hester Steel, Page Street Horror, and NetGalley for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

✨ What I Loved:

I really enjoyed my time reading this book. It hooked me from the very beginning and had me completely invested in the story early on. The atmosphere was perfectly eerie, and I was hooked on finding out what would happen next. 📖

The first 70% or so of this book was amazing. I was fully into it and loving where it was going—the tension, the atmosphere, and the way the story built up were all really well done. The cult elements were especially interesting to read about, and everything felt so exciting and unpredictable. 🌔

✍️ Room for Improvement:

The last portion of the book didn’t work quite as well for me. There were a few events that didn’t make much sense or really add anything to the story. I also think the book could’ve been a little shorter, as it did drag a bit towards the end. Even with those minor flaws, I still enjoyed the overall experience and thought it was a really unique horror read. 💫

🥇 Overall Takeaway:

This was a strong and compelling book. I loved the beginning and middle, it was genuinely hard to put down. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a cult story with dark, intense vibes and a really fascinating premise.

💡 From The Margins:

• Mood Board: 🌊 Misty island mornings, salty sea air, weathered wooden buildings, moonlight glow by the fire, greenhouse plants 🌿

• Favorite Quotes:

  “It was a whole world. A world that sneered at me for yearning to be more than just a dutiful daughter and girlfriend and employee, a body, a tool.”

  “It was a god because we let it be. It was a cataclysm because I made it one.”