My Darling Dreadful Thing is a feral, sapphic gothic fiction, complete with toxic relationships, ghosts, murder and mystery. It really leaves you questioning what happened and if any of it was in fact real. van Veen is an amazing writer. This novel is lush and atmospheric and it really engrosses you and feels as if you're right there with the characters.

I love that this was set in the Netherlands too, as I don't read many books with Dutch characters. I was pleasantly surprised this touched on aspects of colonialism especially in Indonesia, I do wish it had explored that a tad more but understand it wasn't the focus.

The vibes of this were just perfect. I actually felt so creeped out and disturbed while reading certain parts and I loved it. This book truly is a work of art in such that art is to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. I truly feel for the characters and what they went through and wished the book had been different purely so they had some piece in life.

If you love Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House this is for you.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

Garlic & the Witch by Bree Paulsen

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

This was again, so cute! I love how much Garlic has grown since book 1. I really wish there was more of these graphic novels. It was just so fun and so cute and 100% a new comfort read.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

This was really cute! I did see a lot of what happened coming, but I still had a great time reading. I loved that this was centered around the book/publishing industry too.

The Will of the Many by James Islington

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book was so damn fun. If you're after something with heists, found family, vampires, slow burn tension and an Arthurian aspect all wrapped up into one story with commentary on colonialism then this if for you.

A Tempest of Tea is such an easy and fun read. I just flew through this book and thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it. The plot and characters are truly addictive, and the slow burn tension between some of them is just perfection. I cannot wait to see where book 2 goes, I just loved this world and the characters.

Faizal is such an incredible writer and her talent truly shines in this book. It makes me so excited to read more by her. I also really want to reread We Hunt The Flame so I can finally get to We Free The Stars (which are in the same world as Tempest.)

Here are some quotes I adored.

"His smile was the edge of a knife, and she was ready to bleed."

"I loathed you, Arthie. I hated you for the span of a heartache before I realized how much I craved you. And I know you yearn for the same."

And finally, the iconic blood drinking scene.

"His eyes were as dark as her heart, a sea at dusk.
'Let me bleed for you.'"

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I LOVED this book. I'm so mad it took me this long to read it because it's full of all my favourite things. We got a murder mystery, an ace MC who can bring back ghosts of animals (ghost dog!!), vampires and a culture I don't know much about, but love learning more.

Elatose doesn't force a relationship between the MC and her friend, it just lets them exist and be besties!! The mystery of this was so fun to explore and to find out what was truly going on in this random Texan town.

This reminded me of The Raven Cycle for some reason and I'm so here for it. The only issue I have (if you can even call it that) is that I can never read this book for the first time again.

If you've had this on your TBR take this as your sign to read it!

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lillieslibraryy's reviews 363 reviews

lillieslibraryy's reviews
363 reviews