“I was never a happy child. I think that, if I had been, things would have gone very differently with me. For one, I don’t think Ruth would have become my constant companion. Spirits like her are not drawn to the happy and carefree; they want salt, be it blood or be it tears.”

My Darling Dreadful Thing
by Johanna van Veen

Thank you @PoisonedPenPress and NetGalley for my copy of #MyDarlingDreadfulThing . This has climbed to one of my favourite books of the year, yes I know it’s only April.

This is the authors debut novel, and this gothic love letter was beautifully disturbing. It’s given to us in two POVs, the main character Roos and the doctors interviews.

Roos and her spirit companion help her mother make money by performing seances, until she is whisked away by a beautiful widow who has more in common with Roos than she could have expected.

This is defiantly a book for gothic fans to keep an eye ont for and pick up when it comes out May 14th.

I adore this book. I don't think it's a perfect book by any means, and I wish, plot-wise, that a few different choices had been made toward the end, but my lasting feelings toward this book are still fervent excitement and obsession. I love the main character, even if she makes terrible choices some of the time, and I loved the dynamic with her spirit anchor and then Agnes. Sapphic horror is apparently my new favorite sub-genre.

The gothic vibes are impeccable in this book. This sapphic tale of two women with histories of pretty awful abuse starts slow but ramps up considerably in Part 3. The author's writing is wonderfully descriptive; like I said, the vibes are perfect. Though the story takes place in the 50s in the Netherlands, the author wrote it to seem much older and spookier; it was almost out of this world because it was so isolating. I especially liked how the author wove transcripts between Roos, our protagonist, and Dr. Montague, a psychologist, throughout the story...it was a cool way to unveil the plot. However (and this is why this wasn't a 5-star read for me), I wish there had been more on the relationship between Roos and her spirit companion Ruth; likewise for the relationship between Agnes and her spirit companion Peter. Ruth played a pretty integral role in events throughout the book, but she seemed like more of a plot device. In some ways, I feel like she could be the protagonist of her own novel (or maybe this story told from her perspective). I wish some of the repetition as it related to the character traits of Roos and Agnes had been replaced with more on Ruth and Peter. This is a great novel where you are constantly wondering if the women in this book are battling severe mental health disorders or if the spirit companions are real...or, I suppose, both. It's definitely earned its place on lists of great gothic literature!

Thank you Netgally and poisoned press for the ARC of My Darling Dreadful Thing.

This is the hauntingly, heartbreaking and just plain cannot get enough of book I’ve been waiting for this year! It’s beautifully written and gets you to your core. It deals with mental illness and love at its core.

I highly recommend picking up this book and reading it. I will be getting a copy and reading it again and again.

"Spirits are drawn to salt, be it blood or tears.

Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth - strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries - is the light of Roos' life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos' backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection.

Soon, Roos is whisked away to the crumbling estate Agnes inherited upon the death of her husband, where an ill woman haunts the halls, strange smells drift through the air at night, and mysterious stone statues reside in the family chapel. Something dreadful festers in the manor, but still, the attraction between Roos and Agnes is undeniable.

Then, someone is murdered.

Poor, alone, and with a history of 'hysterics', Roos is the obvious culprit. With her sanity and innocence in question, she'll have to prove who - or what - is at fault or lose everything she holds dear."

Rule number one that I adhere to, never go to an estate with a family chapel. Nothing good can come of it.

This wonderful little debut gothic horror novel was so unlike anything else I ever read, and it really took me by surprise. From the very beginning I was fully immersed in Roos' dark little story. I quite honestly kept asking myself "what the hell is going on?" in the very best way.

This eerie and haunting story follows Roosje, who is very much an unreliable narrator, and her spirt companion, Ruth. Roos has experienced an incredible amount of trauma in her life, and is continuously taken advantage of by those who are supposed to care for her.

The writing and imagery was just so beautiful for such a dark story. I love a book that provides and unique hybrid narration, and in this book we get both first person (past) and transcript documentation (present) that guides use through the story. It was so incredibly well-written, giving us bits and pieces of intriguing and important information each chapter that I never felt bored. I was constantly speculating and then doubting my own theories until the very end.

If you are in the book for a beautifully creepy, gothic horror story with a touch of sapphic romance I highly recommend My Darling Dreadful Thing.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of my honest review. All thoughts are my own!

Johanna van Veen wants you to know that her debut novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing, is a gothic love letter. I didn’t have to ask her, it’s nearly the first thing you’ll read when you pick this up from Poisoned Pen Press on May 14th, 2024. As is becoming more common, this book begins with an author’s note. More than a list of trigger warnings—though there are some—this note sets expectations. I’m just going to help set a few more.

First, I want to start with what I loved about this book. If a gothic love story was the goal, the goal was met. This book was reminiscent to me of Wuthering Heights and, even more strongly, Rebecca. And considering I adore those books, this praise is not given lightly. The atmosphere, setting, and characters all screamed gothic romance. Though I do think van Veen’s focus on secrets being the defining characteristic is up for debate.

This could be because I don’t feel like the secrets created a lot of tension. At least to me, maybe because this book fit the genre so well, I saw them coming. The one secret I didn’t see coming could really go either way. It was revealed but walked back in a way that left things a little murky on which was right. But that murkiness is exactly what this book plays into, so again, I’m not calling it a flaw.

The murkiness I do have problems with both relate to Roos as a main character. Roos is supposedly twenty-one, but do to circumstance and the way she is written, I took her to be much younger. This gave the book a young-adult feel to me, rather than the adult it is marketed as. The other quality of Roos that felt off was her manner of speaking. My Darling Dreadful Thing takes place in the 1950s. I could have sworn, for most of the first half at least, that it was set in a more Victorian time. The seances certainly contribute to that feel, but it was more so just how Roos felt as a character.

I believe this was an intentional choice of the author’s. It does make sense. Roos is best friends with a spirit who died a long time ago. The spirit of a young girl, too. Roos met her at such a young age and their bond is so strong that it is only natural she would emulate her companion. And based on her trauma, I can’t fault the girl for some arrested development. But it does need to be said that since this book is mostly in first person from her point of view, it often comes across as a very different novel.

That being said, the blurred lines between narrative and reality is the core of this novel. If you set aside the love story for a moment, anyway. This book is a question of madness. The interlude chapters make this explicit. Is Roos mad or can she really see spirits? More importantly, is Roos mad or can she be tried for murder? These questions and ones like it are discussed at length regarding both Roos and her love interest. And the answer to that is one you’ll have to choose for yourself.

My Darling Dreadful Thing exists in shades of grey. It is at once classic and modern, naive and mature, grounded and unhinged. Johanna van Veen paid homage to the gothic romances she loves, but she modernized them a touch. Not only did she shift the usual timeline up, she gave us a sapphic romance. Now, I don’t mean to imply that these relationships didn’t exist in the previous centuries of the gothic novel. Only that they were not so readily put into the hands of readers. I’ve been seeing a lot of sapphic vampires lately, let’s bring on the sapphic gothic.

Thank you to Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I should have paid better attention to the description of this book and not leaned so heavily on the title and cover, because it wasn't really much my style of book. I didn't finish it, but may pick it back up another time because the reviews from those who have finished it are pretty good. There's a good plotline - spirits, romance, murder.. but it was too slow for me to keep going.

Utterly obsessed. My Darling Dreadful Thing has cemented my love for gothic literature simultaneously making van Veen an auto-buy author.

What was truly amazing about this novel was the perfection of the pacing—something van Veen has gotten right over other gothic novels, which can often feel slow.

I adored the relationship between the two protagonists, I only wish for further sapphic yearning. Despite this, the representation was phenomenal. My Darling Dreadful Thing is a must read for all queer & gothic novel consumers—I truly hope you love it as much as I did!

Uniquely disturbing Gothic horror. The switching from the main characters point of view and the doctors was particularly compelling as it provided contrast between the story of what happened and the reality of the result. The author still leaves the reader the choice of deciding what is real.

I liked this concept a lot - the idea of spirits bound to individuals was both fascinating and appropriately creepy. It's a very atmospheric book, which I really liked. Everything was really well-written, and sent shivers up my spine, which is all I can wish for in a horror book. Definitely a slower paced book than I was expecting - I feel like I couldn't tell that we were building up to anything until suddenly we were at the climax of the book. It was a little hard to tell what we were building up towards, and then when the plot started to progress (which wasn't until like 75% of the way through the book) I found it to be a little predictable. Still, I enjoyed reading this for the concept and the vibes, and it definitely has that creepy factor that I expected.

One of my main complaints of this book is such a small and petty thing, I feel annoying even saying it, but the fact that the main character's name was Roos and her spirit companion's name was Ruth was more than a little confusing - they were just too similar to one another.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, although it was slower to get moving. Would recommend, but definitely check trigger warnings first!

3.5 stars

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVE the concept for this. Spirits bound to individuals for life, by blood and love and fear and care? Sign me the heck up!

This started strong for me. It’s dark and eerie and twisted. Roos’s childhood was awful and sad and I loved reading about the bond she had with Ruth.

It waned a little for me when Agnes took Roos away, but once their romance started to blossom, I was hooked once again.

This is a dark gothic tale of love in all its beautiful, twisted forms. There’s so much sadness and fear and tragedy in this book, but so much heart and soul and love too.

I do wish the characters had been a little more fleshed out and at times the writing style felt like it kept me at a distance when I wanted to be absorbed entirely, but overall this was an enjoyable read.

I do recommend checking the trigger warnings, though.

WOW. What an amazing debut! I loved the LGBTQ representation so much- we need more of that in our books. I loved the gothic vibes so much and would definitely recommend this to my horror loving friends. I felt the pacing of this book was very different from other gothic books I've read, and that made me enjoy it all the more. I also loved that there weren't unnecessary side characters- everyone really attributed to the story really well. I can't wait to read what she writes next!

I will be thinking about this book for a long time. When I was wasn't reading this book I was thinking about it,

It is dark, moody, gothic and gay. It was so easy to be lost in this consuming type of love between characters. I love how between this story we are being told, which at time had me questioning what was real or wasn't, we are getting interviews between our MC and a doctor trying to figure out if she able to stand trial. Adding that part to the book really helped balance out the creepy suffocation feeling you get from being in our MC head for so long. This book is very dark so make sure you check trigger warnings.

Review: What a great but truly terrifying read lol! I’m so glad that I didn’t save this book until right before bed as I would have had massive nightmares. But it was so good. I truly enjoyed the story as a whole. I’m not going to lie, I kind of want a spirit companion. Mainly so that when I get really hot, which is often, I can have them come and cool me down. And when I feel lonely, I can have someone to talk to (this doesn’t happen much anymore). This is definitely a book I would recommend to my horror friends! Especially if you like books about possession. Thank you @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for my advanced copy! This book comes out on May 14th.

This book is going to stick with me. It was slow, but deliciously so. I loved how conflicted I was if what Roos said was true or if she truely was mad due to her past trauma. I felt so much when reading this - saddness, happiness, nervousness. This one will stick with me for a long time.

The writing was beautful. I love the old style speaking language that Roos had in both conversations, but also in her POV. I really hope she gets her happy endings.

Fantastic narrative setup between psychologist interviews and the events that led to the narrator being interviewed. I loved the gothic atmosphere, the magic system, and the incorporation of the residual haunting of Dutch colonialism with the literal hauntings experienced in the book.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for my free ARC of My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen — available May 14!

Read this if you:
🩸 are looking for a good horror and suspense combo
👻 love paranormal components in your stories
🖤 ever had an imaginary friend as a kid (or adult?)

Agnes, a wealthy widow, is found murdered, and Roos is the main suspect. But first, a doctor must determine whether or not she is mentally capable of standing trial. Roos, for her part, insists that she has a spirit companion named Ruth who has been with her since childhood, and that the doctor must listen to her entire story before making any judgments about her sanity.

This book was perfectly creepy and I loved it! Roos and Ruth are the ultimate duo, and I really enjoyed how Agnes fit into the puzzle here as well. This is definitely a horror book but it didn't scare me badly enough to keep me up at night or anything; I loved the combination of horror and suspense that led us along the path of the story. Thomas — yikes. That's all I'll say about that. I found the writing and pacing solid in here, the ending was perfect, and you should definitely pick this one up if you're into paranormal suspense.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paranormal or psychological, My Darling Dreadful Thing is a horror novel that is difficult to put down. From the author’s note onward, Johanna Van Veen, demonstrates an ability to connect with and entrance the reader. Her conscious and respectful approach while writing about multiple forms of abuse is commendable. That being said, this novel is still not for the faint of heart.

Roos Beckman has suffered at the hands and feet of Mama for as long as she can remember. After the death of her father, Roos was forced to assist in seances lead by Mama, directed to squeeze beneath the floorboards and pull strings to bring the “mystical” into reality. In the tight, dark, rotten space a terrified little girl came face to face with a monster. Named and fed Roos’s blood, Ruth becomes her spirit companion, providing a new outlet for Mama’s seance scams. The abuse of Roos continues well into her adult years leading her into the arms of maybe the only other person who can truly understand. Suffering from years of neglect and abuse, herself, Agnes swoops in to rescue Roos, but unfortunately the pair is met with more trauma and despair.

Although heart-wrenching and terrifying, My Darling Dreadful Thing is beautifully written. The contrast of Doctor Montague’s case notes and Roos’s account leaves the reader wondering whether this is truly a tale of the paranormal or if it is an intimate look at the traumatized psyche.

DNF at 23%

I couldn’t connect to the characters and despite all the glowing reviews, I couldn’t make myself push through when I wasn’t enjoying it.

While a slow narrative is typical of gothic stories, the beginning was too drawn out for my taste.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the egalley.