Reviews - My Darling Dreadful Thing

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

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The book "My Darling Dreadful Thing" is an eerie and evocative gothic tale steeped in longing, grief, and the pull of the supernatural. The story follows a woman trying to make sense of her fractured past and the ghostly presence that clings to her. We travel back and forth from her memories to present day in an asylum, as the story unfurls before us bit by bit. This is a romance novel of sorts, but one haunted by violence, memory, and the question of what it means to be truly seen.

The atmosphere is thick and immersive. The walls of the asylum feel damp with secrets, and the writing leans into that sense of decay without ever becoming stagnant. There is movement in the story. Ghosts drift between pages, past selves rise up, and relationships shift beneath the weight of truth. The romance at the heart of the book is complex and strange, filled with a tension that feels both dangerous and tender. There is an ache to it, the kind that comes from loving someone who might destroy you or save you, depending on the day.

What stood out most to me was how the book treats madness, not as spectacle, but as a lens for understanding power, trauma, and love. The narrator’s voice is intimate and unreliable, and that uncertainty adds another layer to the horror. You are never quite sure what is real, but the emotion always is.

"My Darling Dreadful Thing" is dark, poetic, and beautifully disorienting. I would recommend this to readers who love gothic horror, sapphic longing, and stories that lean into emotional and psychological ambiguity. If you are looking for a straightforward plot, a reliable narrator, or romance that feels comfortable and safe, this may not be the book for you.