actual rating: 1.5. this book freaked me out. i knew that it would be gothic and creepy but i didn’t think that it would be that bad. i was wrong. the book was that bad. i had to take multiple breaks because i couldn’t handle it. the characters were kind of lacking though. there were many times where i felt like the characters were “too modern” but that might just be me being a historical accuracy freak. also, the second half of the book was so bad. it was like the author gave up and was just spoon feeding us the information.

Blood On Her Tongue was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint. I knew from the first chapter this was going to be an easy 5 stars.

The best thing about this book is its atmosphere. You will feel haunted, horrified and at times disgusted but it is done so incredibly well. This book is gothic horror at its best.

At its core this book is about twin sisters and their devotion to each other. The relationship of the sisters feels real even at its most toxic and obsessive. Lucy gets confronted with some really interesting moral and philosophical questions, the most obvious naturally being how far she will go to protect her sister.

As every good Gothic book needs, this book has an ominous estate - Zwartwater, named after the black water in the bog that surrounds it. Needless to say, the setting lends itself to some very chilling moments and atmospheric story telling.

Which brings me to the seriously beautiful prose of this book. The biggest draw of gothic literature is the beautiful descriptions of the utterly macabre and this book nails it in every chapter, every sentence.

If you are a fan of Crimson Peak and Carmilla, you will love this book.

I have grown such a love for gothic horror and this one did NOT disappoint. The writing style was done so well I could picture every scene in my mind. The characters were written so well and I honestly found myself rooting for a character that perhaps we shouldn’t have been rooting for. There’s so many amazing aspects to this story and I strongly recommend it to everyone who loves horror! The story is so unique!

4 ⭐️. the gothic moors and mysterious bog people had me hooked from the beginning. the book plateaued mid-way for me and then picked up speed at the end. women are truly devious and not to be fucked with. pop off ladies.

ty to poisoned pen press & netgalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

From the first chapter, I knew I was going to love this book—and I was so right. I didn’t realize how starved I was for a dark, gothic horror until I tore through this eerie, morbid, and sometimes downright unsettling story.

But Blood on Her Tongue isn’t just a chilling gothic tale—it’s also about sisterhood. Lucy and Sarah, once close but now fractured by their differences, are forced to face their past and mend what’s been broken, all while dealing with something truly terrifying. Their relationship was just as gripping as the horror unfolding around them.

Johanna van Veen has officially made it onto my list of star authors. She knows how to craft a haunting, atmospheric read while still delivering real emotional depth. If you love gothic horror with heart, you won't want to miss this!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and the author for gifting me a copy of this book so I can give my honest review.

I struggled through this one because of how mind-fucky it was, but it ended up all coming together in a way that would make sense on a re-read. Would recommend with the caveat that they would HAVE to finish the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advance copy of Blood On Her Tongue.

I dare say that this book is truly grotesque. Blood On Her Tongue is a gothic horror that follows a young woman named Lucy, who goes to visit her ill twin sister, Sarah. Her sister has been diagnosed with a bit of insanity due to a fever of the brain and has been obsessed with a corpse that was recently found on her estate. However, Sarah takes a turn for the worse, including having a new thirst for blood. Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her sister's illness before she is committed to an asylum. But there may be more to her fever than she is letting on.

I had no idea what I was in for. It started out so typical and then, BAM! It all went out the window from there! I love a book that throws you for a spin! Every time I thought I knew where this story was going, something would happen, and I would have to start all over again. The twists were wonderfully twisty. Blood On Her Tongue was also surprisingly disturbing, but in the best way possible. It was continuously unsettling, such as the scene with the coffin...if you know, you know. Not to mention that there is plenty of body horror, gore, and grossness. I'm not one to gag at books... but this one managed to make me gag. That's not a bad thing. If anything, I'm impressed. Me and spit just don't go well together.

I really enjoyed Lucy as a character. Her way of thinking was very relatable, along with some of her habits, like when she was writing diary entries or fidgeting with specific items to calm herself. I also loved how you're rooting for the male characters to get what they deserve. They sucked, but in different ways. Sarah, herself, was just as unsettling as you may expect, if not more. The descriptions of her body rotting and smelling of death and her own dog wanting nothing to do with her. All red flags but were written to make you even more disturbed.

Although, I do think there were a few points that were a bit sluggish, and the ending is a little bit anticlimactic, I loved this. Once I got into the thick of it, I couldn't put it down.

3⭐️

“Blood on Her Tongue” by Johanna van Veen is a gothic horror novel centred around the close bond between two twin sisters.

This was my first book by this author and honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. Some parts were very intriguing and original, while others felt almost boring to me. I liked the relationship between the two sisters and I was pretty satisfied with the ending.

Overall, it was a solid 3-star read. I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

The atmosphere? Perfection. Eerie, dark, and mysterious, it pulled me in completely. The writing is rich, immersive, and laced with dread. And the horror? It delivers. The gore made me grimace, whisper eww repeatedly, and still flip the pages at lightning speed. It’s gothic horror at its finest, with a feminist bite that lingers.

Now, I did have some pacing issues—the first half took its sweet time building up the horror and drama, and I was impatient to get to the nightmare fuel. But once it hit its stride? It was glorious. Twisted, unsettling, and deeply gripping. The sisterly bond at the heart of the story made it all the more chilling, and I loved every minute of its disturbing unraveling.

A gothic, sapphic vampire story with family drama? SIGN. ME. UP. This book will haunt me for a long time, and I’ll be first in line for whatever Johanna van Veen writes next. If you love gothic horror that doesn’t hold back, Blood on Her Tongue is a must-read.

3.5 stars

Lucy and Sarah are twins with a very codependent relationship. one day, Sarah’s health and sanity starts to decline and she’s not acting like she used to. Lucy wants to get to the bottom of what’s going on and as Sarah starts to get worse, her behavior escalates to a point of no return. i actually liked the direction this story took when it came to what Sarah was experiencing, it made her interactions with the people around her more interesting. i loved the gothic setting and atmosphere, this author has really perfected those two things within her books. i just didn’t connect to the characters, i was invested in everything going on but it was more out of curiosity than care for how things would turn out for them.. i did like the way it ended though and i will still continue to read whatever Johanna van Veen writes but i definitely preferred <My Darling Dreadful Thing.

While this book takes a slow start once it gets going you are going to wish it didn't stop.

This book tells a dark gothic tell of twin sisters Lucy and Sarah. Lucy travels to her sister to visit after receiving disturbing letters detailing her sister's sickness after the discovery of a bog body near Sarah's home. Once arrived Lucy realizes things are far worse than the letter leads on.

Death, secrets and lies run rampant between the characters of this story and the twist of the book will have you questioning everything you are reading.

Lucy receives increasingly disturbing letters from her beloved twin sister Sarah, in which it seems as if Sarah is losing touch with reality. She decides to visit her sister and her husband at the Zwartwater estate, to see if she can help their mutual friend/doctor. When they arrive, the situation turns out to be even worse than Lucy feared: Sarah really does not seem to be herself. Lucy slowly discovers that her condition seems to have originated from the discovery of a dead woman in the peat, who was buried there with a stone in her mouth. Who is she, and what has she done to her sister?

Vampires, symbiotic sisters, revenge, blood and bog bodies in the 19th century: what else could you wish for? Johanna van Veen has written another riveting horror book that is finger-licking good. With the detailed descriptions of the clothing, the writing materials (if you know, you know) and the chambermaids, you imagine yourself as a reader in the Netherlands in 1887. Johanna is someone who does her research down to the last detail and then writes a thrilling story. I'm a fan!

An exceptionally exquisite gothic horror tale that hooked me from the very beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A hauntingly refreshing take on gothic horror. Perfect for readers who enjoyed What Moves the Dead and Victorian Psycho. I loved the eerie setting, the letters between were a lovely touch to add some perspective, and the characters and twists felt so original. I think I had an idea, based on a general sense of how stories tend to go, of how this one might end, but then by the halfway point it had taken a 180 and we were careening down a hill blindly all the way to the end. It was a lot of terrifying fun and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

The gore and development of the cause for the horror aspect was very interesting and needing to know the ins and outs of it carried me all the way to the end of the story. I literally cringed and gagged and flinched away from the text at certain parts, it was so immersive and well written.

If you like gothic horror you’ll like this one, especially if you aren’t queasy at the mentions of blood, gore, and general violence. But in our characters’ defence, they had it coming!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

In a time where men labeled women hysterical, ushering them off to madhouses, supporting women’s wrongs never felt so right.

I fell in love with Johanna Van Veen’s writing and storytelling with My Darling Dreadful Thing and Blood on Her Tongue solidified her as a favorite, auto-read/buy author.

This gothic Dracula-inspired horror is so atmospheric and haunting. It’s queer and chilling. It’s grotesque and satisfying.

Revolving around twin sisters, the story feasted on unique dynamics between characters, creating unsettling experiences that were morbidly delightful as a reader. I cannot wait to experience more of Van Veen’s storytelling in the future!

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Blood on Her Tongue is an unhinged soap opera gothic horror story. And I loved every moment of it. It starts of as many gothic stories do, with a creepy house that was built on equally creepy lands. We also get a woman losing herself, fading into a mysterious ailment that no one seems to be able to get a handle on (it is very Fall of the House of Usher-like). However, in this story we get to see this tale unfold between two sisters, twins, in Lucy and Sarah. Sarah is the one at the mercy of whatever it is that is slowly taking her apart. Lucy is forever her stalwart protector, there to help Sarah in any way she can.

In this macabre setting, we slowly see beneath the surface to the lies not spoken. The family history of madness that colors the choices Lucy and Sarah make. Sarah’s husband Michael, Arthur the doctor, and Katje all have their own machinations at play, and Lucy is in the middle of it all. Desperate to save her sister. Save herself, in a way. But what exactly is it that she is saving Sarah from? That is the true horror here. Or is it?

This was at times deliciously filled with tension as well as jaw-dropping moments that made me go “what did I just read?!” When I thought I knew what was happening, the story took a twist or a turn that made things just slightly different than I was expecting. At one resolution, we find that there is actually more to go. And as things progress, we also see the darker truths behind everyone’s motivations around Sarah and Lucy and the darkness that has taken root.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

I thought I was going to love this one being that we were dealing with vampires, but I have to say this book was very mid. Middle of the road in writing, themes, resolution. It satisfied my curiosity and I enjoyed myself, but it definitely still left something to be desired. This one also explores the bonds of sisterhood and family in a time where women have little say in society. I also think the tone of this novel was fun - it was quite moody, desolate, and dark. I picture this one being best enjoyed in the fall or on a rainy day.

This was an absolutely incredible read! I don't want to take away anyone's experience to experience it fully themselves, so I won't say too much - but this is amazing!

This is Johanna van Veen's second published novel that took her five years to write, and it is so incredibly good. It's dark and gory and twisted, but also witty and sweet and unique.

There are parts that made me uncomfortable with how descriptive they were, and parts that I reread 3-4 times for how beautifully they were written.

No idea why, but I thought this book would unfold differently. Van Veen writes beautifully and many of the scenes will live in my head for... quite some time (👁️🖊️) and it's quite possible I'm not much as much of a gothic horror fan as I originally thought (?!)

This was a really interesting take on vampires that I haven't seen before, and probably for the mystery of learning what these creatures were, I read the entire novel. The writing is dark, moody, and just enough gore to push me to the limits of what I'm able to stomach. The scene building is rich and the (thriller) burn is JUUUUUST slow enough to have you confused and at the edge of your seat.

I was also a fan of the format - bouncing between first person POV, letters, and excerpts.

All that said, I had a really hard time with the characters. The men were so completely irredeemable as characters and the sisters' codependency was too much. The ending was abrupt and I found myself desiring something more satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC!

Can we just appreciate this beautiful cover? Blood on Her Tongue was my second read by Johanna and I adore her writing. This is a slow burn gothic novel that delivers body horror and a whole lot of female rage. Highly recommend to fans of the strange and unusual.

I can’t wait to see what Johanna writes next!