I enjoyed this gothic novel set in 1887 in the Netherlands finally an European set novel that's not England. I think I loved the Netherlands setting more than I did the story and characters, but I still loved the sisters bond. And I look forward to more books by the author.

“If you are ever attacked, remember that eye gouging is extremely effective at incapacitating an attacker. For someone as small and slight as you, it’s probably the best way to defend yourself. Thrust hard and thrust deep. You must crush the eyeball or at least cause severe hemorrhaging if you are to take out your assailant.”

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
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READ THIS IF
You are a fan of gothic horror that blur the lines between madness and reality. Exploring the complexities of sibling love and simply being a woman.

FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
Johanna has done it again. I couldn’t not put this book down, it’s going to live rent free in my head for a long while. Thank you @netgalley @poisonedpenpress for this electronic advanced copy of someone who is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. Johanna has a way with her gothic tales to bring you in and leave you shocked and questioning everything. I read this in public at times and I can only imagine what people thought of the look on my face at some points. The complexities of relationships within in this book is a driving force but also a main problem as our main character is a woman in 1800 Netherlands which in itself is a whole other can of worms. I will be devouring everything she writes from here on out.

This was really good, actually. Gothic horror that made me go what?- what!?- WHAT?- WHAAAT!? every few pages. Set in 1887 Netherlands , it features our morally grey(?) protagonist Lucy, and takes us on a sinister story of bog bodies and blood sucking parasites. The writing is great, the story flows at a steady pace (also giving us equally spaced wtfs😩).Lucy's twin sister, the married Sarah, who writes to her regularly, the Sarah who has already had episodes of insanity , tells her about the bog body that was found on their estate in one of those letters. After that her letters get creepier and creepier until she is called upon by her brother in law ,almost only 2 weeks after the first letter of the bog body, to visit her deteriorating sister. Shit only gets creepier, bloodier, yuckier, and wierder after she goes there. Absolute recommend to people to like dark gothic stuff!
Thank you Netgalley for giving me an ARC.

Blood on Her Tongue was a solid gothic horror story. The book is thick with atmosphere in a delightfully creepy way. We see how far one will go for the love of her sister. I liked seeing a familial relationship as the front and center relationship in the story, where the romantic plots took a bit of a backseat. All the characters were flawed in very relatable ways and their flaws and secrets were revealed in an impactful way. I liked the different take on the vampire, but I wish there was a bit more vampirism in the story. Overall it was a solid read full of atmosphere, gore, and emotion, everything you would want in gothic horror.

This book was such a phenomenal, wild ride. I gave up trying to predict what would happen next and just hung on for dear life through all the twists and turns. Yet I was never lost or confused, just surprised and astounded. All that is to say that the plot is amazing. The book is also super creepy, fully earning its horror label. I definitely did not sleep well after reading it, but I still loved the body horror, creepy manor setting, and disturbing characters. I personally did not find the characters likeable, but I did find them compelling. And I loved Lucy’s devotion to Sarah and how their relationship guides her choices and the plot. I almost wish it had been a dual pov with Sarah as well. I also wish there had been more lore building for lack of a better term. I wanted to know exactly how the possession and stuff worked and get more maybe history or just a deeper understanding. It was such an interesting element and one of my favorite things about the book, and I wanted to know more! But overall this book was so well done and I highly recommend it.

Blood on Her Tongue was a smooth read, a nice classic gothic horror with a couple surprises nonetheless. A great setting : the late 1800s hundreds in the Netherlands, and all the bullshit from the era that it entails in terms of misogyny and ableism. I was intrigued to know what exactly afflicted Sarah, and was kinda surprised by its reveal. Also, the gore was amazingly described.

I wasn't really thrilled by Lucy as a protagonist, but then it was really explored how she always felt that she was in her sister's shadow, so I guess it's ironic how I felt the same and prefered Sarah (kudos to the author for transmitting this on the page).

The reading experience was nice, but I still feel that the author could have done more with this story, gone deeper. Also, dare I say, this could have used more cannibalism ? <spoiler>Why didn't I get to see Sarah eat Michael, bones and all ? It could have made for some chilling descriptions. </spoiler>

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Fun! Gothic, gory and wholly unsettling. I enjoyed the prose quite a bit, found the characters to be mostly believable, and the pacing decent through out. There was a bit of repetitiveness in the 2nd half. I was invested in the story and hoped to see the “superior” men get what was coming to them!

I was so excited to get an early copy of Blood on Her Tongue, but unfortunately, it felt too similar to other vampiric books I have read recently and nothing about it really caught my eye.

I loved this gothic horror with a dash of sapphic love. The relationship between the two sisters was definitely the primary focus and I thought the exploration of sibling/sister relationships was well done and believable. This read was creepy and gory and gross in a good way. Would recommend for historical horror lovers.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC!

I devoured this book (pun 100% intended) in two sittings. It was delightfully chilling, atmospheric and bloody.

It’s a great twist on the vampire story, with heavy themes of sisterhood and loyalty. The characters are interesting and the writing is gorgeous. It took me no time at all to become intrigued by the plot, and I just had to know what was coming next and how the story was going to turn out.

I loved My Darling Dreadful Thing, but I loved Blood on her Tongue even more. I can’t wait to see what Johanna van Veen does next!

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and to NetGalley for the advance review copy.

What a strange yet captivating take on sisterhood and feminism. Honestly the mantra I kept repeating towards the end of this book was “GOOD FOR HER”, because honestly who’s the real villain in this this book, the entity possessing her beloved sister or the men? It was a wild ride and I loved it, would definitely recommend!

I received a copy of this book from Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date March 25th.

Requested this book mostly based on the striking cover, as well as for the historical gothic horror premise. In Blood on Her Tongue, Lucy travels to help nurse her sick twin sister, who has been sending her increasingly incoherent letters, in late 19th century Netherlands. But Lucy begins to suspect that more than a temporary brain fever is wrong with Sarah, something linked to the raving in her letters about the bog body she discovered...

One of my usual complaints with horror novels is that they aren't scary enough and don't have the appropriate air of looming menace. Blood on Her Tongue does not have this issue. From the very first chapter, the novel establishes a pervasive, unsettling sense of unease. Van Veen has a gift for creating an oppressive atmosphere from seemingly innocuous anecdotes, from a woman savagely killing a spider on the train to Sarah's husband Michael's two extra teeth. This is a novel that repeatedly returns to the motif of blood, from blood on the mouth of the carriage horses drawing a hearse, to Lucy's thighs stained with blood after sex, to Lucy imagining her sister cutting her mouth on her husband's extra teeth while kissing. It's heady, disconcerting stuff, especially when accentuated by van Veen's vivid prose. The gore scenes in particular are nearly painful to read. This is not a book for people who have issues with reading about eye trauma, at the very least.

The plot itself is centered around the twins' complex, entangled relationship. Lucy feels like a shadow next to her vibrant and ambitious sister, who has always dominated their relationship. Sarah's husband Michael, with his fixation on scandal and on correct behavior for women, is a sinister presence as the reader begins to unfold what his relationship with the twins is like. I also enjoyed van Veen's clear nod to the novel Dracula--Lucy, Arthur, the plotline about blood transfusions. If there was one letdown, it was the bog body itself, which dated from a mere three centuries earlier. I can't help think that mysterious bodies preserved in peat ought to have a more impressive vintage than the late sixteenth century. Lacks gravitas.

A proper spinechilling, unwholesome, sinister Gothic with an excellent touch for gory prose. Do not attempt to read this book at night or while eating. Recommended.

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“If this is what death tastes like and death is as it tastes, then it is a dull thing indeed.”

This was one of the reads i was most looking forward to in 2025 and it was disappointing.

At first i really enjoyed it, i was hooked until i was halfway through the book, then it went downhill. It was just plain & boring, everything that made this Book interesting was suddenly gone and i don't understand why?

A few things happened that made no sense to me at all and i still wonder why they happened in the first place.

The writing style was pleasant to read and at least made it easy to finish the book, which is often not the case with horror books.

- still a huge thank you to Netgalley & Johanna van Veen for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Rating: 4.75 stars

I had the luck to receive an ARC of Johanna’s debut novel last year, so I cannot put into words how grateful I was to receive this one as well.

Let me start by saying: please don’t ever stop writing, if you don’t have any fans I’m dead. And even my ghost will come back for your new release.

Anyways, this tale was so much alike yet so different from My Darling Dreadful Thing and I was so here for it. I once again am absolutely amazed by the historical accuracy and the way you get sucked into the claustrophobic atmosphere of this story.

I loved the twin dynamic and multimedia storytelling, so well done! And just like in MDDT the topic of mental health and how it was treated was so shocking yet interesting and told so so beautifully heartbreaking.

Here the reality of being a woman during this time was even more harshly portrayed and I appreciate how well it was handled.

This is the perfect gothic tale for all fans of A Certain Hunger, Women Eating or Tender is the Flesh.

Serious trigger warning for body horror, especially if you’re easily disturbed by everything to do with eyes👀

The only thing I didn’t love was the ending, it came a bit abruptly in my opinion.

A fast paced, gothic with a lot of gore novel that didn't make an impression on me.

At the beginning the prose felt exquisite, and for a moment I felt I was reading Dracula once again because of the letters and newspaper notes at the beginning. But a few times that prose changed and the old classic novel feeling went down because of the language changed to a modern one and felt odd.

It has a lot of gore and a few here and there assault scenes, so please beware if you are not fond of it.

I had a taste because of how it was evolving that the author didn't know how to continue the story and the ending felt rushed. And I also, felt confused of that ending because I really don't know if the whole thing was a vampire story or a schizophrenic one.


Im looking forward on reading the author's first novel though, it has great reviews and overall I enjoyed her writing.

I LOVE this play on vampires! It’s a fun and interesting perspective that is both on the nose and also out of nowhere. Blood on Her Tongue is perfectly reminiscent of the gothic horror genre. Delightfully gorey, entertaining, and fascinating, I devoured it. The author’s world-building and historical accuracy in regard to gender roles and language were impressive and gave credibility to the story. The slow build of anger in Lucy encourages readers to root for her all the way to the end. And I LOVE a good-for-her trope!! I will continue to think about these characters long after finishing the story and I can’t wait to snag a physical copy when it’s published. Lucy and Sarah's sisterly bond shows us just how far you could / would go for those you love and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood.

My only dislike of this book is the Dracula quotes throughout. They didn’t seem to aid the story in any meaningful way and were more jarring than beneficial, especially because Dracula was published after this story took place.

Blood on Her Tongue is a brutal and viscerally-written book delving into feminine rage, moral ambiguity, and the lengths we will go to for the ones we love. I was expecting a story loosely based on Dracula, but was pleasantly surprised to discover an utterly unique deviation from the traditional vampire retelling.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its writing: raw and graphic yet beautiful, perfectly blurring the lines between the characters’ reality and insanity. The sisterly bond at its core is equally intricate, morally fraught, and compelling, admixed with very poignant social commentary. While I didn’t agree with all the characters’ choices (particularly Lucy’s) the decisions are realistic and the characters’ flaws and moral complexity in these complicated situations are central to the story.

Overall Blood on Her Tongue is a dark, unsettling, and thought-provoking read, with an undeniably fresh take on the vampire genre and an unflinching look at the strength of sisterly bonds.

I love My Darling Dreadful Thing, but this latest novel just didn’t do it for me. I found myself growing bored and overall just wasn’t for me

Vampires, nature horror, 1887, this story was awesome! The sapphic undertones between the characters was great and the story was fast paced

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review!

3.5/5

From the blurb, I was immediately interested in "Blood on Her Tongue". With a mix of vampires and nature horror revolving around a bog body and twin sisters, it was definitely something that I wanted to read. Overall, I found it to be a good book!

I found Lucy and Sarah's relationship to be really interesting, especially through the letters between them that we see at the start. Their dynamic added to the story, and the fact that Lucy's love for her sister was the motivation behind all of her actions made her an interesting character. I thought all of the characters added to the story in their own ways, but with Lucy and Sarah and their relationship being the central point, they were definitely the most interesting.

Without spoiling the book, I thought this way of writing vampirism was super interesting too! It's not something I've ever seen before, which made it very unique! While the buildup to the reveal itself was a little underwhelming to me, I think the overall idea of it was a super interesting way and sets this apart from other vampire stories.

Overall, I thought "Blood on Her Tongue" was an interesting read! I wish the bog had been a little more prominent, but that's just me and my love of nature horror.