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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
"Must love be about suffering?"
A blend of gothic horror and sapphic romance. This was an easy read, a good book to start spooky season with. Above everything, this is a book about love.
‘My Darling Dreadful Things’ is written so interestingly. The main character is being mentally assessed by a doctor because she claims she sees a girl named Ruth, her spirit companion, and recently a murder occurred where she’s the prime suspect. The book has these chapters with parts of her sessions with the doctor (set in the present) and is majorly following the story of what happened (set in the past), told in first person. It was slow at times but I found the story fascinating.
The romance is tragic in a beautiful way. After finishing the book I could only think about the “what if’s”. Definitely keep in mind that the book is set in the 50s, so unfortunately there are some historical attitudes towards homosexuality as a mental illness but nothing that took over the book in any way!! It isn’t one of the main themes.
The story explores love and loss while being tragically beautiful and spine chilling. It’s a quick easy read with a straightforward writing and dark/sensitive topics.
➣ Quotes:
↳ "There's a reason the word 'haunting' is rarely used in a positive way. To never be free of someone, well, that's not always a comfort."
↳ "It's a dangerous thing, to try and give someone everything. One day, you might find you've given away things you should've kept. Some parts of us must remain inviolate if we are to survive as a person."
↳ "Arrogance is a greater threat to justice than evil and ineptitude."
↳ "Spirits like her are not drawn to the happy and carefree; they want salt, be it blood or be it tears."
This seemed…fine. I just was hoping for something that gripped me more and felt a little less vulnerable ingenue.
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretty good book! Definitely interesting and enjoyable but lacking substance.
this was kind of dumb. everything bad would have been avoidable if the MC would have had even a small amount of critical thinking skills
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
IN SHORT: Sapphic horror book, gothic themed, about spirits and mental health. Yumm.
I was charmed by the book immediately, before even sinking my teeth into its flesh, having only gotten a whiff of it in an epigraph. It’s exactly what I wanted “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil” to be.
A story told by an unreliable narrator that makes the reader paranoid, questioning the authenticity of every scene. We are left to decide if we believe in the existence of spirits within this Universe or if maybe our heroes’ mental state conjured all the horrors from thin air. I am so charmed by the concept of spirits in this book that the latter seems like a waste to me, and I choose to believe Roose and Agnes over the common sense.
It's a slow book focused on characters, their struggles and relationships with each other. The plot is interesting yet unravels in the background, our main intention must be to learn more about Roose and people around her.
The horror is created by a rich atmosphere – and it’s one of the very few books that made me feel scared, uneasy at times. Even “friendly” spirits both are terrifying to imagine: the way they look, move, communicate sent shiver down my spine.Thomas’s first attempt at getting into the house, Roose closing windows just this much faster than he can reach them, the cool touch of his fingers from behind the door – nightmare material.
Slowness was somehow combined with skipping over an uncomfortable amount of time, especially at a crucial point where Roose and Agnes just started to get to know each other. We don’t get to see the very first night in a shared hotel room, the first awkward stage of their relationship when Roose recovers physically. I understand the desire to get to the plot, however, the book doesn’t benefit from it.
Romantic lines suffer because of this, we don’t really get to see it growing beyond physical attraction, left with an implication that it did. And it’s a shame because love is the main theme of the entire thing! It’s not a healthy relationship in the slightest but it adds to the horror and is fitting for Roose and Agnes and Ruth who’d been through hell.
I was charmed by the book immediately, before even sinking my teeth into its flesh, having only gotten a whiff of it in an epigraph. It’s exactly what I wanted “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil” to be.
A story told by an unreliable narrator that makes the reader paranoid, questioning the authenticity of every scene. We are left to decide if we believe in the existence of spirits within this Universe or if maybe our heroes’ mental state conjured all the horrors from thin air. I am so charmed by the concept of spirits in this book that the latter seems like a waste to me, and I choose to believe Roose and Agnes over the common sense.
It's a slow book focused on characters, their struggles and relationships with each other. The plot is interesting yet unravels in the background, our main intention must be to learn more about Roose and people around her.
The horror is created by a rich atmosphere – and it’s one of the very few books that made me feel scared, uneasy at times. Even “friendly” spirits both are terrifying to imagine: the way they look, move, communicate sent shiver down my spine.
Slowness was somehow combined with skipping over an uncomfortable amount of time, especially at a crucial point where Roose and Agnes just started to get to know each other. We don’t get to see the very first night in a shared hotel room, the first awkward stage of their relationship when Roose recovers physically. I understand the desire to get to the plot, however, the book doesn’t benefit from it.
Romantic lines suffer because of this, we don’t really get to see it growing beyond physical attraction, left with an implication that it did. And it’s a shame because love is the main theme of the entire thing! It’s not a healthy relationship in the slightest but it adds to the horror and is fitting for Roose and Agnes and Ruth who’d been through hell.
The main character has absolutely zero personality. The story drags on and on and on. The chemistry between the 2 FMC’s is so artificial, the sex scenes feels jarring. It’s predictable and has pacing issues.