A review by nerdatlas5
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

The book moves like a slow train wreck that you can't stop; it turns out I can look away from those quite frequently lol. I think that while Roos makes a lot of mistakes, they are ones that make sense for her character. Van Veen created a protagonist that has been so steeped in abuse that even in the opportunity to find love with Agnes, she offers herself up in ways that are self destructive. I thought that the romance between the two was sometimes too slow, sometimes too fast. Similarly, the pacing at the end and how the events played out really took a lot of the tension out of the climax and the final confrontation. 

I will say, it seems to be a theme as of late to find the themes of love as consuming and becoming one with your lover in a lot of queer novels, both romantic and not. Not all instnaces of this is portrayed negatively and I do think it's a cool way to explore love that frankly I find lacking in straight romances. I need to make a list of books that fit this theme to sort out my thoughts on it, because ther 's quite a bit of variety in how this is portrayed too.