This is my second read by Johanna van Veen and I am classifying myself as a fan of her writing. While I didn’t enjoy Blood on Her Tongue as much as My Darling Dreadful Thing, I was still thoroughly enraptured by this story of Lucy, her twin sister Sarah, and the Bog Woman. I thought this was going to be a traditional vampire novel…and I was absolutely wrong! The atmospheric descriptions of the cloying estate of Zwartwater and the gruesome scenes of violence place this firmly in the horror genre, but the darkness and eeriness come across as a pure gothic treat. About 80% of the way through the book, things slow down a bit and there is some repetition which felt unnecessary, which is why I rendered the review I did. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an ARC in return for this unbiased review of the novel.

So....this is another book I'm not quite sure how to review. Johanna’s books are an experience you truly have to experience yourself. As gothic literature seems to be making a reappearance, Johanna offers a fresh perspective on the horror aspects of gothic tales, while still maintaining the mysterious and eerie. Featuring a menacing bog rather than moors. This book is truly disturbing, unsettling, and unpredictable in the best ways. Filled with countless moments where I couldn’t help but put the book down for a moment to allow the repulsion settle. Sisterly devotion is the heart of the story that keeps you pushing through. While at times a bit verbose, overall a well written work that I recommend to those looking for a dark, and twisty story.


A huge thank you to both Poisoned Pen Press and Johanna van Veen for this ARC!

“For you, I’d lie and cheat and kill and damn myself straight to hell. I’d do all that and more, again and again and again, as long as it took to ensure you were safe, because you are my twin, my half, my more.”

Morbidly dark and twisted, Blood on Her Tongue is a fascinating piece. It has unsettling plot with feminine rage, an insatiable hunger, and the true test of sisterhood.

It all begins when a mysterious big body is discovered, causing Sarah to become obsessed to the point of maddening illness. Her twin Lucy comes to help unravel the mystery to protect her from going to an asylum. But Lucy has secrets of her own.

Fans of gothic horror, you will eat this up. Gothic, eerie, unhinged, and hard to put down. I loved nearly every second of it. The only issue I had was some of the pacing. Other than that Blood on Her Tongue was fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. This is an honest review and my thoughts are my own.

This story… I never wanted it to end!!

This is a hauntingly enchanting tale of the human psyche, morality, and how far one’s love can go for things that are not as society seems they should be.

This book had me engrossed from the very beginning. Not only were the details, down to the teeth grinding of the bog body, beyond immersible, this story had a gravitational pull that left me morbidly curious and uncomfortable. Truthfully it made me feel as if I was living the story myself.

EVERYTHING your heart can desire with a gothic piece of literature with the morbid and macabre is throughly executed in this story, and I can promise it will give you chills at times with how unnerving the narrative is.

One of the best reads so far this year for me :)

Included in monthly horror round-up at BookTrib: https://booktrib.com/2025/03/13/the-chill-quill-march-belongs-to-women-with-these-gripping-new-reads/

4.5 stars

I was immediately pulled in by the story and enjoyed even more than her debut novel. This is a creepy, Disturbing, and gross more than scary horror novel! There were times that the imagery made me nauseous but despite that I “enjoyed” the horror aspects and unique story.

I also appreciated that the author includes content warnings in the beginning.

I loved the atmospheric, historical setting. The story takes place in Drenthe which is one province over from me which I found really cool!! There was also a mention of my home state, Michigan 😍

Enjoying the mixing of the story as told by Lucy as well as newspaper articles, letters, and diary entries. You really get to know the characters who are flawed and well written! I had a lot of mixed feelings for them throughout the book.

The novel as a whole was well paced throughout and had a great ending. My best read of March so far and makes Van Veen an auto read author for me now!

Tw/cw: death, body horror/gore, misogyny, sexual abuse, infidelity, domestic abuse, mental illness (and the stigmatizing of it), toxic relationship, child death, suicide, grief

I absolutely love a good book and this one was amazing. I was engaged in this book until sitting on the edge of my feet needing to know what happened next the Gothic part of this was perfect touch to it. I am definitely going to be checking out more books by this author.

Blood on Her Tongue
Horror
Johanna van Veen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• ꜱᴜᴘᴇʀɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴀʟ • ɢᴏᴛʜɪᴄ • ᴘᴏꜱᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴ •

I really enjoyed My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen so I was looking forward to reading this one!

I found this book to be quite slow to start with. The letters between Lucy and Sarah did confuse me a little but they soon made sense.

I couldn't put this book down! The plot drew me in and I finished reading it in about 3 hours because I was so eager to find out what really happened to Sarah.

There were many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I kept trying to predict the plot twists but I was wrong every time.

The characters were great and I felt sorry for Lucy. Especially because Michael was so misogynistic and prone to outbursts. I was glad when a certain character got what he deserved. I wish it had happened sooner 😂.

The vibes were perfectly gothic and creepy at times.

Johanna van Veen is a brilliant writer and she has become another of my auto buy authors.

*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*

Unsettling, atmospheric, and quick-paced, Blood on Her Tongue is both a subtle creature feature and a cathartic take-down of period-specific misogyny.

Is this a vampire story? Yes and no. If you’re fresh off the Nosferatu train, you will probably enjoy this, but it’s not a vampire derivative - it’s something less specific than that.

But the mood? The vibes? The tone? The atmosphere? Totally gothic!

This book focuses heavily on women. There are two men in the novel (though granted, there are maybe five, maybe six, women, so it’s not the cast of characters is huge), and both represent dudes on the spectrum of bad guys. You have one who is a sleaze and sees women as disposable, and then the “white knight” guy who thinks he’s a good guy but is using that persona to manipulate. And back in the 1880s, as a woman, sometimes, in order to provide for yourself (given you generally couldn’t support yourself financially), you had to choose between dick A or jerk B. While this doesn’t seem to be more than minor interpersonal conflict and period-specific setting, it really comes in at the end in a way that is immensely satisfying.

In truth, how the male characters react to the women (in particular, the sisters) is what carries the “is she crazy or is this real?” tension in the novel. It’s one of these books that, when you stop to think about it afterward, is far more clever than it seems to be on the surface. Not that it’s silly or something, but a lot of the intricacies or subtitles of the novel come out when you think about it after reading.

I will admit, this insanity aspect, while not the same as in My Darling, Dreadful Thing, felt a bit repetitive to that novel. While the characters and situation are entirely different, the sort of “real or not” question felt a bit too similar to the other book in a way that I wished the conclusion had more of a twist. This wasn't really a problem though, just something because I was aware I was reading a book by the same author, sort of stuck out to me.

Where this book really shines, though, is the descriptions and the setting. It’s creepy and brooding and just feels so dark. The book is packed with body horror, trauma, and death. I didn’t find it particularly scary, but it’s definitely moody and sucks you right in.

The story also has some great curves in terms of plot and red herrings, and it moves at a good clip. Sometimes, gothic novels can be too heavy and drag a bit, but this one never lets up. The story is a bit of a mystery, but I wouldn’t consider this novel a mystery.

The writing is also lovely, with phrases like (and this is from an ARC, so it may be removed or altered in the final version): “To say it broke her heart was an understatement: it maimed a tender, vital part of her.”
There were also some passages that were downright funny.

I really enjoyed reading this book and flew through it. I totally recommend it to gothic horror enthusiasts and/or historical fiction horror readers!

This is Johanna Van Veen's second novel and they've triumphed yet again! To avoid spoilers, I will speak only on the setting and the two main characters. I'll admit, I'm fascinated by bog bodies and that somewhat unique, natural preservation process. Like Sarah, I was drawn in by this ancient creature of earth and rot. The estate is extensive, but not remote. Lucy's loneliness and withdrawal is deeply internalized rather than an effect of the house.

As someone who has a twin sister, there were moments that struck me more acutely than others. Lucy and Sarah are incredibly close, obviously, but their personalities are noticeably different. Sarah is unreserved, fervently inquisitive and mercurial, and Lucy is self-restrained, romantic, but "insubstantial and unfinished." But Sarah, while appearing mad, is sharper than even Lucy expected and Lucy, is certainly not as dutiful and submissive as she seems. After losing Sarah, Lucy looks to a mirror as "the only place I can find my sister", a sister that has become hungry and restless...

It's a passionate, sinister twist on the classic vampire tale, but do not think of it as a simple re-telling. It's always tempting to make presumptions with gothic fiction, but I promise it will leave you shocked and horrified as the story unfolds. It's lightly inspired by Dracula and traditional gothic themes - forbidden love, inevitable tragedy, terrible dreams - but truly Van Veen has created something entirely their own. Of course, I expected nothing less from the author that gave us My Darling Dreadful Thing!

""I'm in your blood, and you are in mine..."

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry...and hungry.

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever."

Could it be vampires? I think vampires.

This one was a ride. Blood on Her Tongue takes you to a haunting estate in 1887 Netherlands, where Lucy must deal with her twin sister Sarah’s increasingly bizarre and dangerous behavior. As Sarah becomes obsessed with an ancient corpse found on the property, Lucy uncovers a mystery that threatens to tear everything apart.

Van Veen’s writing is dark and unsettling, with slow-burn tension that makes each strange moment feel inevitable. The gothic atmosphere is thick and immersive, pulling you deeper into the madness. It’s got that A24 movie vibe, with body horror, a rich setting, and a sense of unease that didn’t let up. It’s twisted, weird, and keeps you locked in until the very end. I’m already dying for more from this author.

3/5 stars because the author writes so incredibly beautifully.

I was so excited for this book after ready my darling dreadful thing. I such such high expectations and I think that was my downfall.

I love the writing style and the characters but the plot itself just was not for me. I love gothic horror and while I still think this is gothic horror it just was not my cup of tea.

The author is still amazing to me and I will read whatever she puts out next.

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen is a wild, gothic ride that somehow blends Dutch history, sapphic tension, and weird vampire vibes into one haunting story. As a Dutch reader, I loved spotting the folklore touches—it’s like seeing our heritage get a dark, bloody makeover.

The sapphic romance is slow-burn and deliciously unsettling, and the vampire angle is straight-up bizarre in the best way—less “hot immortal” and more “is she gonna eat me or kiss me?” The writing is darkly poetic, and while some plot points are a bit out there, the whole vibe just works. Weird, eerie, and totally worth it.

Blood on Her Tongue is a gripping, creepy, atmospheric gothic novel that for me eclipsed van Veen’s previous work. The writing so perfectly captured the unease and tenuous line women walked in the 1800s to be independent and smart but not too smart. Not too combative. Not too independent. Definitely not too emotional. And the very real threat of being sent to an asylum.

This is by far the most body horror/gore I’ve read in a novel (I’m a horror novice) but I think it was so well done and fit the gothic atmosphere. If you like stories of women’s rage, mystery, and bog bodies, give this one a shot!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

Van Veen's sophomore novel is a gripping Gothic pot boiler. Twins Sarah and Lucy have a toxic bond. Sarah's struggles with mental illness have greatly impacted Lucy. When a bog body is found near their home, Sarah becomes obsessed with the corpse and begins to spiral once again. Lucy comes home to intervene. What follows is a twisty thriller full of lust, betrayal, and bloodthirst.

🩸 Blood On Her Tongue Book Review 🩸

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Blood On Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen is perfect for fans of gothic horror and closely intertwined siblings.

This book had me hooked with its rich atmosphere and captivating storyline. It follows Lucy who receives a few strange letters from her sister Sarah. Lucy goes to visit Sarah and her husband. There she finds her sister terribly sick and acting different. She’s hungry but can’t keep anything down…Is something trying to possess her sister?

I honestly had such a good time with this one. It sucked me in!

Read this if your looking for 🥀

🩸 Gothic Atmosphere
🥀 Bog bodies
🩸 Sibling Horror
🥀 Good For Her Vibes
🩸 Gore
🥀 Sapphic

Is this one on your tbr? Catch this one when it releases 3.25.25!

4.5

I really loved this! This author’s debut was excellent and I found her second book to be even better!! This author really excels at creating an atmosphere you can really feel, which contributed to the dark, eerie, and gothic vibes of the novel. I loved how this novel centered around themes of women and madness and I loooooved the ending. So girlboss of the twins. I saw a quote recently that was like any time you want to be mad at a woman, go be mad at a man instead and I really think this book is the epitome of that sentiment. Faced paced, atmospheric, and oh so satisfying. A must read for gothic horror fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and poisoned pen press for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

As much as I loved van Veen's previous novel, she somehow managed to top it with this one. She really captured the griminess of the gothic setting, which sometimes gets lost in the aesthetic, and as always her characters perfectly toed the line between bizarre and believable. Katje is best girl.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for the early access copy!

Wow. This is an incredible sophomore novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even the icky bits. I'm finding that (thanks to Johanna Van Veen), I really enjoy gothic bog horror. She writes it so well! It feels like I'm watching a penny dreadful movie in my mind, which is honestly amazing. I loved this take on parasitic vampirism. It was wonderful, brava!