2.2k reviews for:

My Darling Dreadful Thing

Johanna van Veen

3.94 AVERAGE

hemoore's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ofpetandpeeves's review

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

daniellepie's review

4.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

killerqueen565's review

3.75

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rockpapersatan's review

5.0

medium-paced

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Devoured this book in one sitting.

castoffcreature's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

destincdreads's review

5.0

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if you’ve enjoyed this book as much as i did, i recommend reading “in this way i was saved” by brian deleeuw or watching the film adaptation “daniel isn’t real”—the topic of that story is very similar to this book’s

owlishbookish's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kcook14's review

3.5

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

banrions's review

4.0

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i think on an emotional reaction level, this is like a 3-3.5 for me, but the writing and language of some of the visual descriptions were so solidly great throughout, that it gets that half star bump for that alone. this is a visual treat (well... lol actually a lot of it is visual descriptions of dead ghosts gross bodies, but like, in an awesome and achingly beautiful way). and roos as a pov is lovely. this is def sapphic, but do not go in for the romance--this is a tragic, horror novel, first. like... you know from page (idk exactly which but very early on) that agnes is dead from the first jump. but... this is also a novel very ghost focused. so. ya know. there are possibilties still in the end, bittersweet and horrific tho they maybe are.

i had a really great time with this overall. i enjoyed alternating between the audio and my kindle, which i've never rlly done before much. the narrator was wonderful, and i'll absolutely look out for more from this author in the future, bc queer horror is one of my fav things ever, and we need more of them.

(i would say trigger warnings for: child abuse, rape, incest, domestic abuse, and... like, mental health being potentially weaponized? none of this is explicit or particularly graphic, some is only mentioned but def peppered through the novel, so go in with that in mind).