A story dripping with gothic atmosphere, and characters that will burrow beneath your skin and make themselves at home—My Darling Dreadful Thing was an easy Five Stars for me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The writing is both macabre and lush—and not a page is wasted. The story is witty and dark. The pacing is perfect, and there were a few times I gasped.
Add this one to your TBR ASAP!

The tone/atmosphere of this story is perfect. I enjoyed it right from the opening pages, it was so dark and interesting.

I requested this book because the cover, title, and synopsis are amazing, however, I don't want to read about child abuse. Had I known this, I wouldn't have requested the book.

Thank you publishers, Netgalley, and the author for granting my request to review this book.

The crimson peak-like premise instantly grabbed my attention. sapphic gothic horror is just my favorite genre, thank you NetGalley for providing an eArc of this!

This book will send you down a creepy dark path. It was totally something different from what I have read in the past, when it comes to spirits.
I enjoyed some aspects of it, others were just a little over the top.
This book would make for a good read during the spooky season.

This was such a great read. The dark and gothic atmosphere felt so incredibly real. I love an unreliable narrator and especially paired with an epistolary format. This is such a smart and witty book. Roos is such a good medium and I enjoyed her character. The way her mother treated her was just gross. I loved the supernatural aspect and although I am not a romantic at all - I enjoyed the love story. Usually gothic books are slower paced, but I felt this one was more a page turner. Excellent debut!

Many apologies to the author and publisher for the delay in my review.

I enjoyed reading MY DARLING DREADFUL THING a great deal. I loved the spooky atmosphere and how cherished the spirits are by the main characters. Indeed, my favorite parts of the book were when Roos and Agnes were sitting around with Ruth and Thomas vibing. Thomas looked for insects on the floor while Ruth ground up glass. That's a perfectly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, right? I almost didn't need anything else to happen in the book. I would have been content to read a couple hundred pages of the four of them hanging out and playing cards or something. Agnes and Roos' relationship is very sweet. I also really liked that bogs were a key part of the story! Bogs need to be featured in more books.

The one element I found off=putting, maybe even mildly annoying, was the framing device of splitting up the main narrative with psychiatrist interviews. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Roos is an unreliable narrator. This is partially because the psychiatrist character isn't very distinct or memorable...he's just kind of there to drive the story along in his cliche kind of way. This small annoyance can't detract from the overall goodness of the book though. I know a few students who will love this book! It will most certainly land in my library.

I'm not usually a huge a fan of period pieces, but I loved this one. The characters were strong; the pacing was fantastic, and the emotional responses were legit. 5 stars!

This book was a creepy gothic tale of tragedy and loss. The young girl overcomes many odds in this unnerving tale. It has a great storyline and is a can’t put down thriller.

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

what's it about? ⬇️

Roos Beckman's life was little more than long days spent laboring at the whim of her Mama, First, she was made to sit hunched beneath the floorboards of the old parlor in a dark, dusty, terrifying crawl space and to trigger the tricks that would make customers believe her Mama to be a real clairvoyant reaching out to the spirit world. But when Roos was actually faced with a spirit who came to her beneath the floor--Ruth, she named her after the initial shock of fear wore off--and realized that Ruth could possess and control Roos's body, Mama changed tactics, making lovely, young, fragile Roos into the new face of her business. The darling child with the spirit companion to help her reach out to those passed beyond the veil. It was hard work, and oftentimes meant that Roos was not given the space and autonomy she desired and deserved, but it got them by for a time. Until the day that Agnes Knoop joined them in the seance parlor and set off a chain of events that would change Roos's life forever.

Freed from a life spent living under her mother's thumb and living in a lovely, if crumbling, old estate Agnes inherited from her deceased husband, Roos forms a new bond with Agnes and Agnes's spirit companion--named for the character Peter Quint from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw--and begins to explore the old estate along with Ruth. But even as she and Agnes grow closer and real depth of feeling and love starts to bloom between them, there is always something there in the periphery haunting--perhaps even hunting--them and the home in which they reside. Agnes's ailing sister-in-law Willemijn seems at every turn to be making sure of it. But as the horrors climb to uncontrollable heights and repeated tragedy strikes Roos, Agnes, Ruth, and Peter, Roos is found alone in the old house surrounded by death and decay and is taken in by the police and accused of murder.

Told in the form of memories playing out as Roos gives interviews to a doctor trying to ascertain whether or not she is sane enough to be convicted of the crimes of which she is accused and those interviews themselves, My Darling Dreadful Thing is a dream for anyone looking for a slow, haunting, deeply atmospheric horror tale with tragedy and grief and deep, true love woven into the heart of the tale.

my thoughts? ⬇️

As I said before, this book was incredibly atmospheric and Johanna Van Veen did a beautiful job of slowly ramping up the stakes bit by bit without the reader taking the time to note some of the signs of the upcoming tragedy. Like any great horror piece about a haunting, though, there are clues hidden throughout the text of what is to come if you keep an eye out for them, and this story was so, so fun to decode and eventually watch unfold. Roos was such a tragic, wonderful leading lady, and her love stories--different as they were--with both Agnes and with Ruth were so multi-faceted and beautiful and flawed while still being so pure. I never thought that I would find myself so enraptured reading about a character forming such a close, almost childlike attachment to a ghost who clicks and cracks and smells and shows so much of the horror of the death like Ruth does, but this book grabbed me by the collar and never let go. And the tragedy of the love affair between Roos and Agnes was so stunning and heartbreaking and such an honor to read.

I will say, though, that this book read very slow. There was nothing at all wrong with the pacing, but the pacing itself just was very slow and creeping and crawling, which only lended more to the all around atmosphere, but I worry that some might end up finding it tedious going in, so it's something to keep in mind. There were also a lot of triggers (listed below) included in the book that even I had to take a pause on when I passed them that I think others should definitely keep in mind before diving in. It's a book a genuinely enjoyed and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future, but I would hesitate to recommend it for others without having them do their research first.

based on you other likes? ⬇️

As far as comparisons go and with the above concerns in mind, here is a list of other media I've enjoyed in the past that I find to be somewhat comparable to My Darling Dreadful Thing. If any of these are up your alley, then maybe this will be to.

😱 The Haunting of Bly Manor (really any Mike Flanagan Netflix project)
😱 Ouija: Origin of Evil (also a Mike Flanagan production)
😱 The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Bly Manor is based on this.)
😱 We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
😱 Crimson Peak.


trigger warnings ⬇️

blood, vomit, violence, gore, body horror, injury/injury detail, death, death of a loved one, death of a family member, child death, grief, abandonment, confinement, body shaming, child abuse, use of a minor (physically) for financial gain, mental illness, addiction, self harm, overdose, suicide, domestic abuse, infertility, toxic relationship, physical abuse, terminal illness, incest, schizophrenia, forced institutionalization, medical content, mentions of cannibalism, adult/minor relationship (unwanted), sexual assault, rape, sexual violence, racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, racial slurs, colonization, and xenophobia.

If you want to satisfy a craving for sapphic seances with a hint of demonic possession and female hysteria, this is the book for you! This hauntingly beautiful cover initially tickled my fancy. Agnes, recently widowed, rescues Roos from a destitue existence living as a charlatan at the behest of a "mother" who forced her to perform feats of psychic proportions for the mourning public. Warning for claustrophobic readers! Roos finds herself in a dilapidated mansion with Agnes and her ailing sister-in-law, and begins unraveling a family mystery. Did I mention Roos has a demon (ahem, "spirit companion") that guides her? Roos is drawn to Agnes because she, too, shares a spirit companion. As the attraction between Roos and Agnes grows, sinister energies on the estate amplify. There is a bit of a twist toward the end which I didn't see coming (but probably should have), but it was enjoyable. The length of the book was OK, I think it could have been condensed a little bit. All in all, I liked it, and if you are looking for a Victorian Gothic LGBTQIA+ storyline, check it out!

Roos Beckmann has been performing seances with her "mother" for as long as she can remember. She was forced to hide under floorboards in order to fool her "mother's" patrons. One night she was especially frightened while hiding and Ruth came to her. Ruth is Roos’ spirit companion. In one of the seances, a widow was very impressed and offered to buy Roos from her mother.

She went to live with this woman, Agnes and Ruth was by her side. Roos became very close with Agnes. With time, the two women and Ruth grew their relationship deeper and deeper. Agnes missed her husband so much. Roos decides she will try to reunite the husband and wife. When Agnes is found dead, Roos has to explain what happened, but no one believes her story.

This was a dark and beautifully written novel! Van Veen is a master of words. There was so much emotion in her writing. I loved the development of Roos and Ruth's relationship. And then the relationship between Roos and Agnes blossomed. I was enthralled by this novel. The genre says this is a horror novel, but I really felt as though it was a dark, paranormal romance. I really, really recommend this one for those that like creepy, dark stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisioned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest reivew!

This is a beautiful gothic story that is hauntingly creepy and had me constantly coming back to it. I read it almost exclusively (I typically read mutliple books at once) and recommend it to anyone who enjoys the gothic horror genre.

This book was wonderfully spooky, vivid in imagery and fresh in the choice of voice. Some narrative devices called back to horror classics (Dracula came to mind as soon as I saw the interview format), others seemed perfectly placed to deliver the narrative. I am so happy I picked this up, and would recommend to all fans of soft horror with the woman in the center of the narrative.

Thank you so much Netgalley for letting me read an early copy of this novel - the book is available to the general public now so go out and grab it!

I can't seem to stay away from books about gay people being haunted and thank god for that because they are always so good!! This one had a particular, timeless vibe to it that made it feel like it could've been written decades ago as well as decades from now. Van Veen manages to successfully balance hope and tragedy all the way up until the end, depicting a story of trauma, dedication, and romance pretty masterfully considering this is her debut novel. The relationships were the strongest aspect of the story, all of them believable and terribly tragic in their own ways, particularly the relationship between Roos and Agnes. They so deserved each other and did not deserve what they got in the end 🥺 but the time they had together was beautiful and isn't that at least worth something?

I quite enjoyed the fact that we got barely any time with most of the male characters, particularly Thomas - it made them feel ghostly and as if they were all on the outside looking in, which they all were, in their own ways.

My only complaint would be that the pacing was off. Van Veen lingers too long on Roos' experiences and state of mind and skims over details that may seem less important to the writer, but those details are often craved by readers. For example, more moments between Roos and Agnes unrelated to either of their pasts; more time spent with Peter and Ruth, exploring how two spirits interact. Little moments like that might have tipped this over the edge for me. Still, this novel is undoubtedly brilliant and I can't wait to read more from the author!!! 💛

MY DARLING DREADFUL THING was not what I was expecting, which isn't in itself a mark against it ... but the writing, the atmosphere, the characters, everything felt so spectacularly off and I can't explain why necessarily. Reading this just gave me an annoyed, edge of a migraine feeling.

Beautifully written, wonderfully creepy, will definitely be buying a physical copy of this when I can.

This was a thoroughly creepy book and I also found myself deeply loving our two main characters and their complicated dynamic. I can't explain what about this book gave me the chills. Was it the actual ghost part of it? Or was it the way the main characters interacted with each other? Either way this was the definition of a Gothic horror/romance complete with a spooky estate.

This is beautifully written. It's a disturbing tale about ghosts and revenge and madness. It's a story that proves we all have the potential to be malevolent if threatened or the life we cherish is threatened. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the patient interviews along with the story from Roos's perspective. There is a lesbian romance but it's a small part of the story. Definitely a gothic horror story, which I love. Spoilers--I'm sad for Roos and Agnes. I don't want Roos to be alone but my feelings toward Ruth have been tarnished. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

This book absolutely rocked my soul, delighted me to my core and made my heart ache - with just the right amount of gross spooks to be a pretty perfect book.