Blood on Her Tongue

Johanna van Veen, you are a creepy weird genius and I love you! After reading My Darling Dreadful thing I knew I had to read this one. I wasn't sure how it was going to live up to her first novel, but wow, so fantastic!! Taking place in the 1870's making it even more gothic and creepy and dreadful. I loved it so much. Thank you for the opportunity to find another new favorite author!

A truly ingenuitive take on vampires with a dash of female rage. Gothic, dreary, grotesque and macabre — everything I look for in a solid vampire novel was so wonderfully present. There are scenes in this novel that still live rent free in my head ( 👁️ + 🖋️ ) if you know… you know. This novel begs the question: what is a person without their thoughts, experiences, and history? Could you love someone still if they became monstrous? Morality is turned into murky waters, and what’s right and what’s wrong begin to look so similar you cannot tell the difference. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is in love the with the dark and macabre 🖤 thanks to NetGalley for ARC access!

This gothic horror tale was nothing short of a haunting journey, immersing the reader in a world steeped in shadow and foreboding. The author’s prose pulls you into a setting so vivid and chilling that you can almost feel the cold seep into your bones, leaving you simultaneously entranced and uneasy. Every page hums with an eerie tension, and the dark atmosphere twists around you, making you dread yet crave each wicked event lurking around the corner.

At the heart of this tale lie twin sisters, bound by secrets that gradually entangle them in an inescapable darkness—one that doesn’t merely haunt them but reaches out to ensnare those around them as well. The plot twists are shocking, strange, and yet utterly fitting for a tale as unsettling as this one. After all, what is gothic horror without its peculiarities?

The author’s skill in immersing you within the sisters’ worlds is nothing short of masterful. As their lives unravel in a fog of secrets and lies, you find yourself questioning what is real and what is the product of creeping madness. The lines blur so convincingly that, like the twins themselves, you’re left teetering on the edge, unable to fully discern reality from delusion. It’s a dizzying descent that makes this tale all the more terrifying—and unforgettable.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.