**3.5 stars**

This was a good, queer Scandinavian Gothic (which surely must be a new category) read. It had some spooky moments. It all boils down to whether you believe in spirits or mental illness. I felt it was a little long in a few spots but overall I liked it. I liked the back and forth in time as well as the doctor/patient visits.

I got an ARC from NetGalley (thanks to the author and publisher) but I also got the audiobook from my library. The narrator did a great job.

I enjoyed this story, but I didn't get the "most anticipated Horror" appeal. I didn't find it scary, more suspenseful. I liked the idea of Ruth being inside Roos, and the way the Agnus storyline rolled out was really exciting.

This book is creepy and perfect for a night in front of a fire. This book will give you chills and keep you up at night!

There are two timelines in My Darling Dreadful Thing. In the back-story narrative, Roos Beckman is being used by her mother as a tool for her spurious seances, with only her friend Ruth for company. And unfortunately, Ruth has been dead for quite some time. So when the recently widowed Agnes offers to take Roos off her mother’s hands, as a live-in companion, Roos quickly moves on.

However, in the “present” timeline, we find Roos is suspected of murdering Agnes, and is being interviewed by a psychologist to get to the bottom of the crime.

This is a real slow burn, and given the length of the novel, not an awful lot happens. Roos and Agnes’s relationship is beautiful, and the inevitable jealousy of the ghost Ruth is always lingering in the background.

The novel focussed heavily on character development, especially Roos. Author Johanna van Veen immediately creates a believable cast and series of relationships. I absolutely love stories involving seances, so I found the earlier parts of the book very enjoyable.

A rich, literate novel about ghosts figurative, literal, and spectral.

This is a very dark gothic story. Roos has a spirit only she can see that has helped her through the darkest times. She has been “raised” by a woman who exploits her by using her spirit to con people by having seances. That is until one night she encounters another real spirit. Agnes also has a spirit and takes Roos away to her haunted house with her sick sister in law. That is only the beginning of the tale….because then someone is murdered.

This feels like historical Gideon the ninth…but not done as well. It seems as if the dark themes are stereotypical and thrown in. Roos development was convoluted and misguided. The connection between Roos and Agnes is just awkward. I get that is part of the plot but just rubbed me wrong through the whole book. Over all I felt like there was just too much going on to make a cohesive story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for forwarding this ARC to me.

My Darling Dreadful Thing was a gothic horror full with ghosts and everything we already loved and admired from shows like American Horror Story. The 50s are such an interesting time write a horror book in. Medicine is still not fully developed and the understanding of mental illnesses are extremely different from today. So this story was perfect for the 50s.

We follow Roos, she can see ghosts and has a ghost named Ruth bound to her by blood. Together they perform fake seances for her abusive mother until she meets Agnes.

Agnes is the widow of a wealthy gentleman and can also see ghosts and has a ghost named Peter bound to her. She decides to save Roos from her mother and together they move to Agnes' late husbands mansion.

There things start to go awry and end deadly.

The story is told from Roos' POV, half in normal chapters, half in recorded sessions with her psychiatrist. You don't know for sure if Roos is a reliable narrator and the story is slowly unfolding.

I loved this story a lot. Historical horrors are my favorite and this one was especially unique since its set in Europe and also explores mental health, the patriarchy in that time and also racism. The relationship between Roos and Agnes was tragically beautiful and bittersweet. The ending was shocking.

I was a huge fan of the storytelling in general and I think the author found the perfect words to tell this tale; enchanting and hauntingly dark.

Finishing this took me a lot of time but it was worth the journey since this isn't a book to fly through in my opinion. I enjoyed every single chapter and savored every detail.

I rated this 4.5 stars and am looing forward to read more by this author!

I love gothic horror and was incredibly excited for this one as it was a sapphic gothic horror. I loved how eerie and atmospheric this was. I love when a book feels me with a sense of dread and this one did that very well. The writing was beautiful, my only qualms with this one was the pacing. I do love horror that has a slow build up but this one just fell a little flat and was a bit anticlimactic for me.

The first few chapters completely reeled me in this intriguing and particular story about Roos a girl who holds seances with her mother for money. But when a widow Agnes Knoop comes in for a séance but decides to buy Roos company instead, is when we enter the gothic novel era. All the while, in the present time, we the readers know that something has happened because Roos is being held responsible for the murder and a psychiatrist is trying to figure out exactly what happened.

As much as the writing is lush and descriptive, the pacing kind of lags – but I find myself much more interested in the story when we’re in the present time. Perhaps because the writing is mostly dialogue in those cases and the pacing is swift during those scenes. The mystery is intriguing, and I love the sapphic romance in this – and the two main characters, Roos and Agnes, are very interesting and unique.

I recommend this book if you’re into Gothic literature, love ghost stories, and want a mystery worth reading.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this! Gothic, creepy and everything I was looking for at the time I read it. Huge thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my review copy!

Roos has a ghost for a best friend , Ruth. Throughout her short tortured life , Ruth is her one constant and her only solace. She is used for seances as a child and thinks she will never be free until she meets Agnes, who buys her freedom and whisks her away to a huge gothic mansion in the middle of nowhere. Is Roos mad? Is she sane? Are ghosts real? You will be second guessing everything you believe til the very end

In My Darling Dreadful Thing, debut author Johanna van Veen draws on the tropes of Gothic fiction, resulting in a novel that feels entirely original while also paying homage to classics of the genre. At once a horror story and a love story, it’s unlike anything I’ve read before.

Roos Beckman is a young woman with an extraordinary gift: She can talk to spirits. Well, a spirit, anyway: that of her best friend and spirit companion, Ruth. Both Roos and Ruth are exploited by Roos’s mother, who forces them to perform for strangers during backroom séances. But then one of those strangers, a young widow named Agnes Knoop, offers Ruth the opportunity to come live with her on her crumbling estate, Rozentuin. As Roos and Agnes grow closer, it becomes increasingly difficult to deny the attraction between them…or to avoid the tragedy that awaits them – because months later, Roos is accused of murder.

Set in The Netherlands in the years after World War II, My Darling Dreadful Thing is narrated by Roos in the first person as she tells her story to a psychologist tasked with determining if she is fit to stand trial. This structure works well, giving the book a propulsive quality as Roos’s story unfolds. We know, from snippets of transcripts from Roos’s sessions with the psychologist, that something very bad happens at Rozentuin – we just don’t know exactly what it is. The pacing is deliberate, and the book doesn’t give up its secrets too early, instead revealing them at perfect moments in the narrative.

As with all the best Gothic novels, van Veen’s writing is dark and descriptive, full of macabre imagery, laced with melancholy and dread as she weaves a story that is both gorgeous and gruesome – a story about love, life and death, dysfunctional relationships and abuse, prejudice, and female autonomy that is just as affecting as it is unsettling. Roos is a sympathetic protagonist: naïve, tentative, but with strength and determination at her core. Her relationship with Ruth is fascinating, complex and almost heartbreakingly tender.

Modern in its themes but classically Gothic in its execution, My Darling Dreadful Thing is an inventive and impressive debut that has me eager to read whatever Johanna van Veen writes next.

This dark, gothic ghost story, with lesbian love, personality disorders, murder, mayhem, seances, and madness - really hit me in the feels! And, I was not expecting it at all, until events just came tumbling together rapidly end over end until . . . yeah. The ending.

The story follows a young woman named Roos, starved and abused by her Mama, forced to perform in charlatan seances. Except, of course, Roos can see spirits - but only that of Ruth, her spirit companion and best friend whose ghost she met under the floorboards of the house. Roos's narrative is interspersed throughout the book with interviews by a psychologist, court mandated to determine if Roos is criminally liable for crimes that have not yet been revealed.

Ultimately, there is a love story underneath all of the layers of this dark dreadful story. And that, in the end, is what got me to a 5 star read. I absolutely loved the ending.

Absolutely brilliant!

Perfectly and unapologetically gothic. The imagery is unmatched and the plot perfectly paced.

This a great debut! Definitely a perfect read for Autumn & spooky season. Compelling characters & unsettling elements add up to be a sad yet beautiful story unlike anything I’ve read before.

This story does deal with some extremely complex topics such mental health, queerness, murders & paranormal hauntings. But the way it is all woven together is a work of art. I only docked one star because I felt the ending was a bit lackluster after all the build up but that could just be me.

I do recommend this for fans of historical fiction, horror, and those who want to read a book with mental health or queer representation.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!

This book was certainly atmospheric. It was heavy in the details but over all I found the interview portions more entertaining and are ultimately what kept me going to the end of the book.

TW: racism; homophobia; self-harm; brief mention of incest; food anxiety; PTSD; SA depicted on page with vague description; brief mention of animal death.

Riddled with melancholy and gothic charm, this book was very well written. Everything was quite vivid, and I found myself flying through this book just to see what happened next.
I didn't really care for the interviews with the doctor, which felt more like a means of increasing tension than providing much substance.

If you are squeamish with gore, the descriptions of the ghosts might be a turn off for you.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I didn't realize until after I was done that My Darling Dreadful Thing is Johanna van Veen's debut novel, and I have to say it blew me away. This was an extraordinarily creepy book that had excellent gothic elements as well as a unique plotline. I didn't read the synopsis before starting, so I had no idea what the book was about; I only knew I loved the cover and found it so irresistible that I had to have it. This was great supernatural suspense as well as a Sapphic love story and I really enjoyed the different elements the author used like excerpts from Roos’s psychologist appointments. I would recommend going in blind as it made the story that much more interesting to me as I watched the truth of everything slowly unravel.

Being the audiophile that I am, I listened to the audiobook, and I loved it! I thought Jess Nesling did a wonderful job and she fully embodied the characters and the book as a whole. I was super impressed. There are definitely some triggers lurking in here, so I would recommend checking out StoryGraph prior to reading. I can be a squeamish reader and while there was some gore it wasn’t anything that made me set down my food. That is me personally though, so some people might find it better not to eat while reading this. 😉 My Darling Dreadful Thing is a fresh addition to the horror genre and I loved every minute of it!

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 comes into her life and everything changes.
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.

Roos will do anything for Agnes. Anything to make her happy, to take away that distant, sad look in her eyes.  Even when her choices are not for the best of anyone, but love isn't always logical or smart.
Roos ghost, Ruth, will do anything for her love of Roos. No way this is gonna end well.
The novel has some seriously spooky atmosphere. What's in the house? Was Agnes's husband a good man who she loved unconditionally or did he have a secret as well?

Excellent horror/ mystery novel with a queer love story to give it humanity.
Highly recommended. Book is available now at your favorite place to get them.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Rating: 3.75 ⭐

This has such a unique writing style. You are being told a story by a patient and the story is being analyzed by a doctor. And we are learning the life of the patient and what led them to these circumstances they find themselves in.

Roos is able to see spirits and along with her mother, performs in seances. one day Agnes comes to a séance and is immediately drawn to Roos. She decides she will "purchase" Roos from her mother and take her to her estate as a companion. While there Roos learns there's more to Agnes than she initially thought and eventually their relationship morphs from companions to more.

There are queer, horror, and gothic elements to this story, all blending so seamlessly. It does start a bit slow but as the story continues and there's reveal after reveal it starts to suck you in. Definitely recommend if horror is your thing!

I am so thankful to NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for the advanced digital copy of this beautiful novel. My Darling Dreadful Thing was published May 14, 2024 and available now!

I absolutely loved this book. It is a slow-burn gothic romance/horror and I savored every minute of it. The writing is lyrical and beautiful and the relationship between Roos (Roosje) and her spirit companion Ruth was fascinating. Ruth is a strange corpse-like spirit who is centuries old and the light of Roosje’s life. When a wealthy widow, Agnes Knoop attends one of Roosje’s seances, they form a connection leading Agnes to offer Roos to come live with her at her crumbling estate.

The alternating format between Roosje’s story and the physician’s case notes was brilliant and broke up the narrative in a compelling way. The estate itself is eerie, with Agnes’s ill sister-in-law creeping the halls, strange smells in the night air; and mysterious stone saint statues in the chapel. As Roos navigates her new life in this environment, a murder occurs, making her the prime suspect due to her history.

The imagery in this novel is more unsettling than outright scary and I appreciated the atmospheric tension. I read this slowly but constantly thought about this book as I was making my way through it. I would love to see this as a movie and highly recommend for anyone looking for an atmospheric gothic read.