I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby Published by Berkley on September 23 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A. Rushby explores body horror, sexism and revenge in this creepy Gothic story.
Slashed Beauties has the most unique idea for a story I’ve ever come across, and I’ve read some unique stories! A. Rushby has built her tale around the real life anatomical Venuses, also referred to as “slashed beauties” in this story, wax figurines of women that were created in the late 1700s as teaching devices for medical students, figurines that were fully dissectible (complete with removable organs) and more practical than human cadavers, which were hard to come by. The author takes this macabre slice of history and turns it into a dual timeline tale of horror that, while not perfect, delivered some nice chills, as well as a focused look at sexism during that time period and how women were treated as objects, ripe for revenge. (click here to see photos of real anatomical Venuses!)
The story is split into alternating chapters, past and present. In the present, we meet Alys, a young antiques dealer who has just acquired one of the aforementioned anatomical Venuses, one she calls Eleanor, with the goal of reuniting it with another Venus called Elizabeth. Although the reader doesn’t know the whole backstory yet, it’s clear that Alys has plans to destroy the Venuses and that she’s enlisted the help of a witch coven to help her.
The chapters in the past take place in 1769 and follow Eleanor, whose boyfriend (and hopefully soon to be husband) Nicholas has brought her to London. But once there, Nicholas leaves Eleanor high and dry, and she realizes she’s stuck in an unfamiliar city with no money or means to support herself.
A worldly woman named Elizabeth approaches Eleanor, offering her a safe place to stay, if only she agrees to join her business endeavor: Elizabeth is a prostitute and she’s looking for young, beautiful women to exploit, and she has her sights set on Eleanor. Eleanor is reluctant but intrigued: in exchange for sex, Elizabeth will outfit her in the most glamorous of gowns and jewelry and give her a place to live. Elizabeth has already recruited Emily, a beautiful girl with dark skin, and although she and Eleanor immediately feel a kinship towards each other, Emily soon warns her that Elizabeth is a cruel mistress and she should escape her clutches while she can.
It isn’t hard to figure out that the Eleanor and Elizabeth in the past are related in some way to the anatomical Venuses that Alys is trying to round up in the present. But how they fit together is the big mystery of the story, as Rushby slowly teases the reader with bits of information, but doesn’t reveal the answers until almost the end of the story. Alys is the other puzzle piece. Who is she? What does she have to do with the Eleanor and Elizabeth Venuses? And why is she so desperate to destroy them? Rushy combines magic, body horror and plenty of historical elements and gives readers a diabolically creepy story that shows how horribly women were treated at the time and how little agency they had.
The chapters set in the past are the longest, so we spend lots of time getting to know Eleanor, Elizabeth and Emily. These sections are fairly slow at times, since we don’t get to the horror parts of the story until much later. But I did like the growing friendship between Eleanor and Emily and the way they watched out for each other. The men in the story are all horrible: lecherous, rude and calculating, and I hated the way they treated the women like cattle. Despite the fact that the story revolves around prostitution, there is no sex here at all. Rather, the author focuses on the horrors associated with prostitution, including medical risks and the emotional state of the girls, which was heartbreaking.
In Alys’s timeline we meet a woman named Catherine who is writing a book about the Venuses. She claims to be distantly related to them in some way, and she knows that Alys has secret information about them that is critical to her book. Unfortunately Alys wants nothing to do with Catherine, so she spends a great deal of time trying to evade her. Alys’s chapters were a little frustrating, because she knows what’s happened and why she’s trying to obtain the Venuses, but the reader doesn’t. I became a bit impatient during her sections because they are shrouded in so much mystery.
As things spiral out of control for Eleanor, Emily and Elizabeth, their fate is finally revealed, and it was just as horrific as I’d hoped it would be. It could have easily been an episode of The Twilight Zone, in fact. The plot does become convoluted at this point, though, since the mechanics of what was happening didn’t always make sense, but ultimately it didn’t matter. The ending was emotionally satisfying and worked perfectly. I’m very glad to have discovered A. Rushby, and I look forward to her next book.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I didnt realise the Venuses were based on real anatomical dolls, they definitely look disturbing. Im hoping I’ll enjoy this one too. I’m intrigued to discover how all of the separate stofylines connect and like the sound of each segment too. Whether the end will work for me I’m not sure based on what you’ve said but I’m definitely still checking it out sometime.
It was such a well written story, and extremely creepy:-)
This sounds fascinating! I didn’t know about “anatomical Venuses”, wow.
I thought you knew about everything! LOL. Such a cool idea and very creepy…
The photos of the real anatomical venuses look so creepy! And I agree it’s a unique idea to wrote a whole story around this part of history. I love the sound of it for sure!!
I love learning new things and this was such a great historical object to build a story around:-)
“their fate is finally revealed, and it was just as horrific as I’d hoped it would be”
LOL!
The premise is fascinating…I didn’t know anatomical Venuses existed (thanks for linking to the article!), but they CALLED for a book about them to be written, so I can’t believe no one had before. I like how this story revolves around prostitution, but it doesn’t actually depict sex…
Interesting concept. Glad you enjoyed it.
This is one of those stories that might require extra concentration from me to keep certain characters from blending into one another strictly because of their names: Eleanor, Emily and Elizabeth. Did you have any issues with that or was the author able to differentiate them enough to make that easy for you? It’s a quirk of mine, and never a showstopper, just something I need to work a little harder with. Sounds like one of those impactful stories worth reading. Very glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Tammy, I have problems loading your website… I got to read your review though (don’t ask how) and I am glad you loved this even if all the men were bad and lecherous and … LOL
Ok, thanks for the picture link – those things are terrifying! This sounds like a good read especially if you are wanting something more slow paced. Great review!
I recently added this one to my TBR!
Interesting story. I think it’s the first I’ve heard of anatomical Venuses.
It’s disturbing that for tools meant to teach medicine they had to make the anatomical venuses so sexy, like that was not necessary at all :S This one is on my anticipated releases so I’m glad to see that you liked it! It also sounds like the type of story that will enrage me but sometimes that’s what we need lol.
I’ve never even heard of anatomical Venuses. I tend to avoid body horror but the whole historical aspect of this one has me curious. Great review! 😀
I am so glad you enjoyed this one so much! It sounds like an interesting mix of different original elements, that’s for sure! And thanks for sharing the link, I was very curious!!
Wow, that historical aspect really makes me intrigued and I might have to give this one a try. Love that cover too. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/09/27/the-dnf-report-45-september-2025/
I love the sound of the historical side. And what a great cover this has – I’ve been intrigued by it since I first spotted it.
Lynn 😀