Thank you for the ARC! I have not had the chance to read Ava Reid's first novel yet, but I decided it was a must after finishing this book! I thought it was a super intriguing and compelling retelling and I could not put it down! Th horror aspects were super well done as well as the mystery aspects on who the murderer was!!! I really enjoyed this book!

Juniper & Throne is a hauntingly beautiful dark fairytale. I devoured this book like no other before it. Reid’s exploration into trauma was done in a thoughtful and empathetic way that worked for me. That being said, it could definitely be triggering for some individuals while reading. I would throughly recommend this beautifully written book!

This book has some really dark themes; it explores family abuse/manipulation, self harm and body horror. Our main character Marlinchen is the youngest of three sisters who are trapped in their manor home with their wizard father. This story follows some popular fairytale themes: magical curses, dead mother, abusive father, evil sisters, forbidden love interest, etc. while reinventing these into something totally new and unique.

Marlinchen's two old sisters Rose and Undine reminded me a lot of Feyre's sisters in A Court of Thorns and Roses, they were beautiful, selfish and manipulative. There are also some Cinderella themes going on where Marlinchen is the only one that cooks and cleans for their cursed father. She is also forced to endure the majority of their father's verbal abuse.

“You let me eat up all papa’s anger so it wouldn’t poison you. you didn’t mind that he ruined me as long as you were unspoiled and safe. If you ever loved me, it was because I was a soft thing you threw down into the bottom of a pit to break your fall.”

Sevas the love interest is a renowned ballet dancer with his own dark past. He is really supportive of Marlinchen, and beautiful inside and out. He wants to show her that their is still beauty in the world and perhaps maybe they can save each other.

“Well, you’re my first secret then, my first lie. Does that please you?”
“Only if it pleases you.”

This book was hard to read at times because of the dark themes, however, the MC Marlinchen is not a helpless victim. As her world opens up and she begins to understand that darkness within herself and her family- she begins to understand that she must take control of her narrative if she is ever able to escape and make her own fairy tale. (There was one part of this book that did bother me, which is a spoiler: When the MC loses her virginity to the love interest there is a TON of blood, now I know this book is all about the body horror and all that jazz, but can we please stop pushing the incorrect narrative that it is normal for girls to bleed like pigs when they lose their virginity? Especially when the girl is ready, wanting and there is foreplay beforehand? I ain't here for it.)

Overall , if you are worried that this story may be too sad or bleak, I found the ending very satisfying and hopeful.

This book reads like a dark fairytale that you peel back, like an onion, layer by moldy layer. It’s a nightmare that disorients and unsettles you, and you hold on dearly to the moments in which you find equilibrium.

I loved this grotesque tale starring a witch-girl who is “damaged” and afraid and not bent on revenge. She is the backbone of this story, she and her memories and romance and hideously broken family.

The exploration into trauma through both a real-world and fairytale lens is done in an empathetic and healing way. For me it worked, I was moved deeply. I would say though, that it could definitely be quite triggering for some readers.

I really appreciated how this book ends, and that is ultimately why I will keep coming back for more of Reid’s works. She writes gorgeously, but also with care for both her characters and readers. She is an author who has something to say, and says it with purpose. And so, so exquisitely. I truly recommend this book (please do check the trigger warnings first though!) and I can’t wait to read it whatever Reid puts out next!

3.75/5

Juniper & Thorn is dark and extremely unsettling, much like the story it was based on- The Juniper Tree. Ava Reid crafts a world with a fine-tooth comb, making even the tiniest of details eerie and provoking immense sympathy for the daughters of an all-powerful witch who uses them for his advantage. Although this is a fantasy novel, many themes were very touching and even more so because of how closely they relate to today’s society. This story is about being overlooked, taken advantage of by those who you hold closest to, and above all else, the hope that a blossoming love can bring. The amount of trauma the main character, Marlinchen, goes through seems unbelievably real and incredibly sad, especially in terms of how her traumatic experiences affect her thought processes, thus how she views the world. Ultimately, she is a survivor figuring out what she wants out of life and just how much she has to endure to have people finally respect her- or fear her.

Captivating from start to finish, Juniper & Thorn will probably be one of the most atmospheric books I’ll read this year. Reid’s writing transports you into the story and makes you question all that you know through a narrator that, at times, can be unreliable. That being said, I would love to have read more about Marlinchen’s mother, the magic mirror, and the budding relationship she finds herself in. Overall, this was a great read and perfect if you want to be spooked.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for a eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

TW: eating disorder, sexual abuse, sexual assault, cannibalism

*Spoiler free*

I was ready to read this book as soon as I finished The Wolf And The Woodsman. I will read anything that Ava Reid writes. And a dark retelling of The Juniper Tree, a horror fantasy book, and I was so, so excited to read it. Trigger warnings: child sexual abuse, cannibalism, antisemitism, xenophobia, physical and emotional abuse, self-harm, bulimia, animal death

It’s no secret that Ava Reid books carve themselves onto my soul, and Juniper & Thorn has made its notch next to The Wolf And The Woodsman. It is truly breathtaking to see the pure talent that is laid across the pages, in the prose, in the craftsmanship of the story, and the careful hand that shapes every scene. The writing is so immersive, and I cannot speak highly enough of it.

Violence is wielded loudly and as a whisper, creating an atmosphere of claustrophobia to match the gothic mansion that Marlinchen lives in. It's filled with monsters, both hidden and unhidden. It’s a horror book at it’s core, and does not shy away from the looking head on at the grisly and the gruesome.

It’s also a book about trauma, the wounds abuse can leave, and how they shape people. Ava wields these themes with such care, allowing these wounds to hurt and room to exist.

I adored Marlinchen, who carries her hurt and her stories so close to her chest, and her strength that comes in quiet ways. The way that she is, the whole of her, I just adore her. I fell in love with Sevas as well, who has his own hurts and open wounds. They compliment each other, and they find solace in way they understand how the world can twist until it doesn’t make sense anymore.

There was also a dark humor about this book, which I really enjoyed!

This book is spectacular all the way through, and I absolutely love it. Utterly hypnotizing, and darkly disturbing, hope weaves through horror in a way that left me breathless. Just, so so good.

In her newest fairytale retelling, Reid has done what she’s proven to do best - take an aged fairytale and lay its dark and gritty guts bare for the reader from an angle not considered through the lenses of the past. She breathes new, dark, and realistic life into tales we read as children hungry for magic and darkness. Juniper & Thorn is the story of a cursed wizard, a changing world who is leaving behind old world magic, and his three witch daughters living in a crumbling house beside a juniper tree and a garden full of monsters. To what lengths will one go to sate desire and keep things always as they were?

I, like many, grew up reading the old versions of fairytales and always valued the darkness in them. We all know that many of tropes within those fairytales, however, were problematic at best. Reid takes the decaying patriarchal corpses of those stories, prizes open their guts, and transforms them, with seeming magic, into something so guttural and emotive that they become their own sort of magic.

In Reid’s world, no character is truly the Ivan or the Snow Maiden, the knight or the damsel, there is no simple black and white, and females are not simply witches or princesses, girls or women - they are multifaceted creatures who are as likely to love as to kill, to rescue as to be rescued. But, beneath it all, Juniper & Thorn is a dark and emotional allegory for what happens to those who are abused and what form the unseen wounds of that abuse leaves behind in its wake. Abuse is its own strange form of darkened evil magic that can take root in the soul and cause us to become shadows of ourselves we never knew possible. But most of all, this story is about hope and what can take place after the dragon is slain.

★★★★★

I am in the odd position of greatly appreciating this book from a thematic and literary standpoint but also knowing it does not fit my personal tastes. I really struggle with this level of heavy content and violence and encourage everyone to pay close attention to the trigger warnings below. Still, I can appreciate that Reid has crafted a deeply twisted, deeply frightening, and deeply compelling dark fairy tale that is packed to the brim with meaning. The story tackles issues from scientific racism, to disordered eating, to the erasure of victims in pseudo-feminist narratives. Marlinchen is total deconstruction of the typical fairy-tale protagonist, and I was blown away by the nuanced portrayal of her actions and reactions as a learned consequence of trauma, and became highly invested in her struggle for freedom on her own terms.

The setting of the novel is all belching coal smoke and slimy fish guts and churning machines: pitting the dark underbelly of industrialization against grasping roots of history and tradition. This book does not blunt its edges: it is often unbearably violent and relentlessly dark, but all in the service of spinning a tale of horror so intractable that I'm going to be a while peeling the grit and gristle of it away from my bones.

PLEASE, PLEASE pay attention to the following trigger warnings, all of which I wish I had been aware of going into the story. TW for: cannibalism, body horror, disorder eating, animal abuse and animal death, sexual assualt and sexual violence, pedophillia, self-harm, and anti-seminitism.

Ava Reid is definitely one for the ages. I first read The Wolf and the Huntsman and knew they would be a must read for every book they write, and Juniper and Thorn is no different.

That said, this is a dark awful hard book. I really urge everyone to take care of themselves first before venturing into this novel. I bump it down a star only because I’m not sure I would have read it as fast as I did had I known about some of the contents. I may have missed it, but I do think this needs some more clear and up front trigger warnings.

Past that, what a story. If you can manage not to cut yourself too hard on it’s teeth, there is a cathartic relief, hopefulness, and even happiness to be had. I applaud Ava Reid for what they’ve done with this and can only hope they found as much release from writing this as I did reading it. They have so successfully crafted a protagonist who can exist with their trauma and still be strong instead of having to overcome it.

Ava Reid doesn’t shy away from the brutality and ugliness of The Juniper Tree. Arguably one of the darker Grimm brother tales, Reid takes the original material and creates something entirely her own in Juniper & Thorn. It’s the very best kind of retelling because it takes that which is old and makes it new; it takes something familiar and turns it on its head. Whether you know the original tale or not, Juniper & Thorn keeps you on your toes and up all night, claiming, “Just one more chapter…”

What struck me first and foremost was the language. Reid captures the dreaminess of the fairytale genre in her prose. Every word is precise, expert. The figurative language is layered. It isn’t used just to describe or paint a picture. Reid plants similes and metaphors like seeds: they blossom into something more, something impossible to ignore.

So, too, are her characters a force of nature. Marlinchen is a dynamic protagonist, though maybe not the most trustworthy narrator. The reader is rooting for her to escape, to win, to live. The reader might also be afraid of her. To see the world through Marlinchen’s eyes is to see her imperfections reflected back. But she isn’t ruined because of those flaws. What she’s been through has made her stronger. Every experience has led her here, and every choice has gotten her closer to the freedom she so desires.

Juniper & Thorn revitalizes an old story and shatters fairy-tale stereotypes. Marlinchen is both the damsel in distress and the knight in shining armor. She may even be the dragon guarding the tower.

Juniper & Thorn follows Marlinchen, one of the only remaining witches in the city of Oblya. Along with her sisters, Marlinchen ensures that the household stays afloat by using her abilities to serve their clientele. She is also the one who takes on much of the daily care of the household with her cooking. Her father is an incredibly cruel wizard who keeps her and her sisters under his strict command. The sisters, however, find ways to sneak away from his watchful gaze to attend the beautiful plays and performances Oblya is bursting with. The book follows Marlinchen as her world is thrown off balance after meeting a beautiful dancer and confronting his secrets. Juniper & Thorn is a gorgeous book. From the world building to the descriptions of the food Marlinchen cooks, the reader is swept away by the rich fantasy. Ava Reid is an incredible storyteller and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a deeply flawed heroine that is doing her best. I would recommend this book to everyone, I couldn’t put it down!

I cannot believe I was blessed enough to get an ARC of this book. When I say blessed I mean it, because this book is ART.

Juniper & Thorn is the dark fantasy retelling of my dreams. This book truly has everything: a romance you root for above everything, an antagonist who truly feels like an antagonist, some of the most beautiful writing I’ve had the privilege of reading, and just enough real-world relatability where one could see this happening both 100 years ago, today, or in an entirely different universe. It also was just creepy enough where I was consistently sitting on the edge of my seat, needing to see what happened next, and by the time I even had an inkling as to what was going on, I was so enthralled and disturbed that my heart took permanent residence in my throat.

More importantly, it has a wonderfully complex main character who is everything I’ve ever wanted in a fantasy heroine. Marlinchen’s naïveté is not based in the need to, for some reason, have a female MC who needs to be blind to the world for some grand reveal later. Instead, it’s rooted in very real and believable trauma - the kind that is both believable and horrible to read, while not being a crutch that undermines the story and her character. She is an unreliable narrator in parts, but that only makes her more relatable: her wavering between love and disgust towards her main abuser only adding to that complexity. Marlinchen is not a weak character who needs a man, or anyone to save her. She is a survivor who claws her way out of her situation as much as she can, demanding what she’s owed to the best of her ability while also not shying away from the help of others.

Trauma is depicted in several ways throughout this book. It’s in each of Marlinchen’s sisters, and how then interact with each other. It’s with Sevas, in what I think might be **trigger warning/spoilers** the only instance of SA against a man I’ve read in a SFF book. Ava Reid does not shy away from tough topics, but also does not romanticize them or present them as unbelievable. Instead, this fantasy is rooted in real world problems that really makes this story grow roots in your heart and mind and stay there.

I am just floored by how amazing this book was. This probably will not be the most eloquent review, but that’s fine, because my endorsement will come from begging all of my friends to preorder Juniper and Thorn, preordering a copy for myself to have and love forever, and the fact that I will never ever shut up about this book.

After reading The Wolf and the Woodsman, I knew Ava Reid would become one my favorite authors and I would buy and devour each and every one of her books.

The writing style and language just pulls you in and weaves together an enchanting, dark, twisted story. Reid is so talented in the way she crafts her stories, all the different elements of her books are so well balanced and developed. I loved Sevas’s character, and the way ballet and some of the harsher aspects of being a dancer added to his story. Marlinchen was such a compelling protagonist reading through her view of how things unfolded, the cruel realities of her story that she was stuck in and her relationships with her family. The ending was so satisfying with the good for her moments I love from a final girl sort of horror. Marlinchen is a survivor and in my personal opinion her trauma was well written and depicted in her character and I loved her growth.

*Thank you NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for providing a copy of the book*

This book truly feels like being told a story on a cold night huddled next to a wood stove. It is a beautifully written gothic retelling of the fairy tale 'The Juniper Tree', and the prose that I fell in love with while reading Reid's debut, "The Wolf and the Woodsman" returns in their sophomore novel.

'Juniper and Thorn' excellently analyzes the ways moderninity and traditionalism clash and I absolutely adore Marlinchen and Sevas, who are flawed and human in their experiences of hope, love, and trauma. Their character growth is a magic in itself. Despite the dark themes, you can't help but cross your fingers in hopes that they get a happy ending. Additionally, Reid handles the effects of the trauma her characters experience incredibly well.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC of 'Juniper and Thorn' and to Ava Reid for creating this gorgeous novel.

CW:
Gore and body horror
Child sexual abuse; incest
Cannibalism
Antisemitism, xenophobia, scientific racism
Physical and psychological abuse by family members; gaslighting
Self harm, suicidal ideation
Disordered eating, bulimia; graphic descriptions of vomiting
Animal death

First and foremost, I would love to express my gratitude to Ava Reid and Avon Books, Harper Voyager Books for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC through NetGalley.

Based on the fairytale, “The Juniper Tree”, Ava Reid’s new novel creates an illustrious world of darkness, magic, and romance. This is by far deserving of over five stars because the amount of care and love put into this work is immense and astounding.

Marlinchen is by far a heroic, flawed, and fully developed protagonist. The reader is left enchanted by her growth as a young woman and character. It is easy to root for her and her love interest throughout the entire tale and all the way up to the satisfying ending of the story.

Both gothic and gorgeous in nature, the atmosphere the author creates with this story is exceptional. The village, the ballet, Marlinchen’s magical home…each place is crafted with the most gorgeous imagery. The reader is sucked into the world of Oblya and there is an aching for more once Juniper & Thorn ends.

The fairy tale elements and tropes used in this novel are clear to the reader and unfold her story perfectly. Each plot point is seamless, leaving the reader to grow with the protagonist and weep at the challenges, tragedies, and abuses she faces.

This work is perhaps one of Ava Reid’s best yet. I recommend picking it up, especially if you love to fall in love and don’t mind the incredible darkness that lurks within its pages. This is already going to be one of my most favorite books of the year, so much so I must swiftly get a hard copy to hold in my hands.

Review on Instagram under @ivy.haunts will be forthcoming.

Juniper & Thorn is just spectacular. Brimming with unsettling magic, monsters, and intrigue, I couldn’t put this down and read it in one sitting. I think Ava Reid is absolutely one of the most talented authors out there. This is a fantasy/horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, and it’s set in the same world as The Wolf and the Woodsman, which I also read and loved. I honestly don’t have words to describe how I felt reading this book. Good books can make you feel like you’re watching events unfold like a movie, but Reid’s writing has the really unique effect of making me feel like I’m actually within the story as it’s taking place. I’ve rarely felt more immersed in a book.
This is my second read of 2022 and I already know it’s going to be my favorite of the year (coincidentally, The Wolf and the Woodsman was also my second read of 2021 and my favorite read of the year). 5/5 stars; I would give it more if I could!