Reviews tagging 'Blood'

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

13 reviews

wellroundedreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence

eestellar's review

I really wanted to be able to finish this, the story was very interesting, but it made me very queasy with the blood talk 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

aparker89's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow! I just could not put this one down! I spent an entire day devouring this book and I imagine many others will too! I liked it so much- I plan on purchasing a hard copy in addition to the ebook! 
Absolutely fantastic writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Murder, Abandonment, Bullying, Gaslighting, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship

mccalab's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Vomit

Minor: Rape

tifftastic87's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Alone and afraid Roosje has called to a spirit and bound it to her. Ruth will do anything to protect Roos from any perceived harm. When an older woman offers to take Roos away from her abusive Mama, Ruth is wary and protective, but Roos has never felt safer.

Mostly, I was bored after the first 60 pages. Things happened very slowly which doesnt always bother me but I found tedious here. We spent a lot of time with the characters but I never felt attached to them. Roos is immature and hyper reactive to negative emotions, both things that make sense with her character but do not make for fun reading. She's constantly seeking validation and that combined with the age gap, power dynamic, and emotional maturity of the two characters made it very hard for me to find the love in the story that the author wants us to find. It seemed more like Roos went from an abusive mother to an inappropriate relationship and we capped it off with an abusive relationship with the spirit, Ruth. 

The incest was unneeded to make Thomas a bad man, the racism and abuse did that well enough. It started to feel rather gratuitous. 

The tension was very low for a gothic horror and everyone just kind of felt exhausting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

bookeduntil's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Incest, Cannibalism, Classism, Infertility, and Infidelity

nostoat's review against another edition

5.0

This is an incredible modern example of the Gothic, complete with questions of sanity, obsession, love, and desire. What is love? Is it pain? Must it only be pain? When you've been through what these women have, can it be anything but sharply edged, with bloody teeth?

I was a bit apprehensive to read this book, as I have strong feelings about madness in narrative, as well as triggers around unreality. However van Veen handles it with such a deft hand. While some readers might still find it difficult or triggering to read (there are doctor's notes sprinkled throughout that, while deeply compassionate, might still be difficult), I didn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Self harm, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest and Sexual assault

Roos is intentionally starved by her mother throughout the beginning of the book.

adragoninspace's review

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Blood, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Rape

bookedbymadeline's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC!

First off, I loved that the author gives content warnings! It’s something I think every book should have. Now into the review-

The novel is set in The Netherlands during the 1950s. I was so excited to discover this since I haven’t read many books set in The Netherlands!

The story goes back and forth between the main plot and transcripts of Dr/patient interviews at the end of each chapter. It made the plot feel more driven, and was a big reason why I didn’t want to put it down! 

Agnes is part Indo, and we learn a bit about the culture as well as the history of Dutch colonization in Indonesia. I found it very interesting and learned a lot I didn’t know before about that piece of history!

Although the story is eerie and disturbing at times, it also has an undertone of warmth and affection, especially regarding the found family between the characters! The book slowed down a little bit in the middle but overall it was an engaging story. I enjoyed the complex characters and the unique ghost story aspect, with having spirit companion instead of being unwillingly haunted.

I did half guess a couple of the twists but they were still really well written! The novel was a quiet horror book with more disturbing imagery than fast paced action. The imagery of Ruth gave me nightmares and made me scared of the dark for sure 😭

Fantastic gothic story with a haunting, atmospheric setting and sapphic romance subplot! I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for the author’s next book 🤍 I enjoyed the book and the story but it wasn’t exactly what I hoped for. It was slower paced than what I wanted/hoped for and I kind of expected more action based on the synopsis. It was good just not great, if that makes sense?

I’d recommend for anyone wanting a sapphic love story (that’s not a romance book), unique haunting/ghost story, or a gothic horror set in an eerie estate!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Racism, Mental illness, Child abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Terminal illness, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Incest, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicide attempt

coobugz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So at first, my thoughts were ‘wtf am I reading?’ I’m not a big horror and ‘spooky book’ reader, and the first bit made me nervous. But the further I got into it, the harder it was for me to put the book down. In a way, it’s like a dark ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ mixed with a less haunting ‘The Shining.’ 
I appreciated the interspersed different POVs, and looked forward to the doctor’s POV/case notes. I felt defensive and protective of Roos, and have respect for Dr. Montague. Not gonna lie, Ruth weirds me out and pissed me off sometimes, but that’s plot for ya. 
A solid 2 claps for the ending and epilogue. 👏👏
I received the book through Goodreads giveaways as an advanced copy and was super excited to read it before the release date, and to give my first review. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Cursing, Cannibalism, and Infertility