A review by gabstersreads
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was…..heavy to say the least. Please read the trigger warnings before reading.
 [TW: Animal death (for food) , Vomit (bulimia) , Xenophobia, Violence (graphic) , Sexual assault (graphic) , Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Gore, Cannibalism (implied), Classism, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism (moderate), and Death of parent (heavily mentioned)]

That being said, I did really enjoy this book. The writing is beautiful and it was easy to get lost in the pages. I was hooked from the beginning which doesn’t happen every often. 

I’ve seen complaints on Marlinchen being too passive. Marlinchen is treated very badly by the people around her, namely her father and her sister. However, Marlinchen "allowing” herself to get pushed around is a result of growing up in a verbally and emotionally abusive environment. Marlinchen learned to do what she could to survive. Her way of surviving was (trying) to keep her father happy. This works until she meets Sevas, a ballet dancer that Marlinchen falls helplessly in love with. Her relationship with Sevas sparks Marlinchen to question her father and uncover his lies.

That’s all I can say for fear of spoiling it. Juniper & Thorn is by no means an easy book to read. The things that Marlinchen has been subjected to will make you angry, sad, disgusted, etc. However, this makes it all the more satisfying to see Marlinchen break away from her abusive father and make her own path in the world. 

I would highly recommend IF you’ve read all the trigger warnings and are in a good headspace to read this. 
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