This is a fabulous reimagining of vampire mythology, though (as with van Veen's first novel) I did hate the penultimate plot beats. The initial buildup and conclusion, though, were absolutely excellent, and I can't wait to own my own copy. It seems like Johanna van Veen is an auto-buy author now!

Blood on Her Tongue is my favorite of Johanna van Veen yet! Like My Darling Dreadful Thing, this is dark, morbid, dreary, sapphic, tense and so haunting you can’t pull yourself away from it. I love the Victorian era, gothic atmospheres and possessions of any kind, so these were all aspects I was incredibly excited for and I think they delivered well. I loved the turn this one took with the possession, and the bond between twin sisters Sarah and Lucy. The ending was so satisfying and so disturbing - I loved it! Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for my eARC!

First off—what a ride. Blood on Her Tongue is sharp, atmospheric, and absolutely dripping with gothic vibes. I went in expecting a dark mystery and got so much more: witchy secrets, a slow-burning tension that never lets up, and prose that’s equal parts lyrical and chilling.

The story follows [insert main character’s name if known – I can fill this in if you have it!], who returns to her hometown only to uncover a web of occult history and buried truths. There’s something deliciously unsettling about the way van Veen writes—she doesn’t just tell you something’s wrong, she makes you feel it crawling under your skin.

Also, huge shoutout to the way van Veen writes female rage. It’s raw, it’s earned, and it doesn't apologize. The themes around power, silence, and reclaiming your voice are threaded in so seamlessly that they stay with you even after the final page.

If you love moody forests, haunted legacies, and heroines who bite back (sometimes literally?), this book belongs on your TBR. I couldn’t put it down, and honestly—I didn’t want to.

🩸 Feminine Rage
👁 Gothic Horror
🩸 Eyeball Jelly
👁 Classic Vibes
🩸 Unputdownable

This was such a captivating, creepy, and immersive read.

Lucy is summoned to help her ailing twin sister, Sarah, who has taken a sudden turn for the worst and been diagnosed with temporary insanity. Lucy is alarmed to find that her sister has become... bloodthirsty... and has quickly deteriorated in health.

This is such a difficult book to explain, and there is such a unique mix of horror elements intertwined to create this story. It's definitely not what I was expecting. The gothic horror vibes were immaculate.

I loved the unique spin of bog preservation that was built into the plot. The vivid descriptions are amazing; the family drama layered in with sisterly rivalry, the haunted setting, and overall, just really great symbolism.

My only setbacks are that I didn't feel as attached to the characters and their stories as I would've liked. There is some great feminine rage, but I feel like it could've been more developed. There is a supernatural element as well, but it didn't quite work for me.

However, the story is beautifully written. I loved the vibe, and it felt very unpredictable. I had a hard time putting it down and found that I was continuously hungering for more.

~

Why had the phrase to break a heart ever become popular? It likened this onslaught of pain to the clean break of a China cup when, in reality, it was much closer to being mauled.

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓝𝓮𝓽𝓰𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓟𝓸𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓟𝓮𝓷 𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓡𝓒 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴. 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓭𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓸𝔀𝓷.

Johanna van Veen has done it again! A beautiful story mixed with all the gore, lust, love, & distaste I could have ever wanted. I really enjoyed the connecting themes between this novel and her debut, but both are their own unique story. I only wished for maybe a brief epilogue of where the sisters end up, but other than that a wonderful story! Thank you for letting me review this ARC!

The gothic feel of this novel was palatable; dark, mysterious and thrilling. It is a clear story from beginning to end, and I felt engaged the whole time. Nauseated at times, sure, but still engaged enough to continue. I wanted to know how the story would end.

It is a vampiric story, but I felt like it brought something new – at least to me – within this genre which gave me a great reading experience.

This is my first novel from this author and I’m beyond eager to dip into her back catalogue. This grotesque gothic follows twin sisters Lucy and Sarah as Lucy travels to Sarah’s bedside after falling ill with a mysterious illness. Her symptoms arose after the discovery of a corpse preserved in the bog on Sarah’s estate. Her fascination with the bog body leads both Sarah and Lucy down a twisted path that reveals just how far sisters are willing to go for each other in spite of anyone’s best interests….or sanity. Van Veen wove such an unsettlingly atmospheric tale of obsession and toxicity (with a dose of supernatural dealings) that made my skin crawl on several occasions. I found the pacing fairly consistent, with my only major critique being that the voice/ dialogue may not have lined up 100% with the era but it wasn’t anything that took you out of the story too heavily. Overall, I’d recommend this to lovers of swampy estates, damp mansions, and bloodshed. Definitely check your trigger warnings for this one.

The writing style in this lost me quickly. It felt juvenile and did not match the tone I want from a gothic story. I may return to it later but for now there was not enough to keep me invested.

A riveting story about two sisters and their length they will go to protect one another from danger. This story had me hooked from beginning to end.

I should have expected cannibalism idk what I thought when I first saw the title but not complaining. I love dark and mysterious books and I absolutely loved it as well.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!

3.5 stars - This was a wild ride from start to finish. I went into this sort of expecting a spooky gothic romance, but I got a lot more gore than that. The novel instead looks at extremely codependent twins where one of them experiences an affliction that causes them to seek human flesh and blood. I really like the direction the book went in, especially how van Veen did not shy away from the grossness of her story. She did an excellent job with the atmosphere of the novel as well; I definitely felt as though I was within the setting. The descriptions are really disgusting. I found myself gasping at certain scenes for how vivid they were. My main issue with the novel surrounds its protagonist Lucy. As mentioned, she has a very codependent relationship with her sister to the point that it was annoying lmao. Like, I have two sisters I get it, but at the same time this was nuts. In addition, she had the most boring POV because she was such a boring person in comparison to her sister (so really, am I any better than the men in this book pitting two sisters against one another? I guess not but damn). It made the ending more tantalizing for sure, but the journey in her POV was a little rough sometimes.

I didn't have a thing about eye gore until this book, so take that as your warning. I loved it. It was so interesting and haunting and made me have such visceral reactions to everything that was happening.

I’ll say this was well written and well done. I don’t think I was the target audience and that’s completely on me for misunderstanding that. If you want a gothic, dark story - this is for you. This may be a right-book-wrong-time situation for me, and I’m not opposed to revisiting - but for now, this wasn’t my favorite!

How far would you go for your sibling?

This was a phenomenal read!!! The gothic horror vibes were absolutely immaculate! And I truly think this wasn’t just a book but a full on experience. The relationship and the depth between Lucy and Sarah was astonishing and you truly find out that there are no limits some twins would go to make sure the other is safe.


*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

I had a bit of difficulty reading this book, but it was mostly on me branching out of my normal genres and feeling overwhelmed by the theme.

I’m into dark romance (think mafia, stalkers, etc) and the novelty of this one got me intrigued, but I just learned that kind of “dark” doesn’t translate to gothic and horror. It turns out I’m a coward, so as much as I enjoyed the writing, the letters and the pace, I would recommend this book to a certain type of reader.

I think this author is amazing and everyone interested in the synopsys should check this out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

I am reviewing this a little late (this was published March 25th) because turns out being a PhD in your first year is tough work.

Anyways, I loved reading this! I docked a star because pacing was a bit weird to me, but other than that, I enjoyed reading this book. Johanna van Veen, you are so creepy and weird, AND I LOVE IT. This was graphic, gory, creepy, unsettling, and just such a perfect little creep read as spring warms up here.

I would and do recommend this to anyone and everyone, so long as you are cool with gore, blood, and body horror.

9.5/10
Hello again dear reader or listener, let me tell you about the latest book to keep me up so late I heard the morning birds begin to sing before I realized I should probably go to sleep (it was 5 am). Unfortunately, I can’t really do it justice, but I’ll try my best.

With thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for granting my NetGalley request, here are my honest thoughts.

You might not know this about me, dear reader, but I am a big fan of all things Gothic, and I don’t mean the romanticized or sanitized idea of Gothic or Victorian which can be entertaining to an extent. I mean the gritty, bewildering, harrowing, enthralling, and hauntingly dark, true Gothic. So it was with immense pleasure that I found Johanna van Veen’s new book, Blood on Her Tongue, met those expectations to the fullest. In fact, I might argue that van Veen has raised the bar on what Gothic Horror ought to be. Just make sure to heed her warnings at the beginning.
This book feels like watching a Robert Eggers movie, more specifically Nosferatu (and not merely for the vampiric elements), but even better. Just as promised in her author’s note, van Veen weaves such a rich and thick atmosphere that you can cut it with a knife (or a fountain pen, iykyk), and it is, for lack of a better word but still very apt, delicious. Her prose is lyrical and Romantic, optimally paced to build up suspense and dread until it finally delivers macabre blows that leave your ears ringing. In the best way. Even knowing what you are in for does not prepare you for the visceral emotions this book will draw forth, and they will be many.

Truly all of the research that went into writing this story shines through, showing unapologetically and without any restraint the realities of women in the late 19th century who dared show anything even resembling emotion and wit past what was deemed acceptable in polite society.
Whether the disquieting happenings are supernatural or the product of a very sick mind, the true horrors lie not only in body horror or violence but in the stigmatization of the mentally ill, and in the harrowing lack of agency or power granted to women by those who deem themselves as above. I use the word granted here on purpose as well, because just as the protagonist slowly and painfully realizes it herself, the reader is fully aware that she is not among allies in a society that sees women as ornamental and with only utilitarian purposes (e.g. child bearing and housekeeping) at best.
What I found exceptionally rendered here is that, if you’re a female reader, you catch on to all of the above straight away, because well, no need to state the obvious, but, if you’re not, the author has done such a subtle and expert working in of all the details to well and truly display this that it is impossible for you to not be fully immersed in the terror, resentment, pain, helplessness, and anger, and understand it all fully.

Not for the faint of heart, Blood on Her Tongue claws its way into you and doesn’t let go till the extremely satisfying ending, because I support women’s rights but boy do I support women’s wrongs in such contexts. You might feel like you should be looking away at times while being utterly unable to do so in what is potentially one the most thorough, raw, powerful yet sensitive but no holds barred, portrayal of hysteria, both as it was understood and weaponized (because van Veen absolutely goes there and Good For Her) at the time, and how we understand it now.
This is a story about power dynamics, about true heartbreak, about all the good and the bad in sibling relationships, especially those teetering on the codependent, and about all the ugly and hidden feelings we carry and might act on. It is rife with themes one could discuss for hours, be it its place within Queer literature, the narrative use of sex and sensuality, the patronizing nature of those that mean well but actually do more harm, about the way each character reveals their true self under pressure, and about what does one do once such a revelation is made?
It is a story about extremes in a world that abhors them, and it is a story about a woman who tries to navigate it all trying to remain sane and eventually having to decide what that even means or if it’s worth holding on to.

If you enjoy Gothic horror, sharp social commentary, intelligent explorations of character and psychology and dynamics, or even if you just want an evening full of transporting storytelling, you will love Blood on Her Tongue. I can’t recommend it enough.
Just be wary gazing into the dark too long, it has teeth.

Until next time,
Elen A.E.

‘’That night, it stormed. The wind stripped trees of their bark and branches. It howled, threw things, like a child having a tantrum. Raindrops cold and hard as bullets smashed against walls and windows and wormed their way into every nook and cranny. Soon, rain trickled down the walls and ruined the wallpaper or dripped from the roof.’’

A body unearthed from a bog sets in motion a chain of events that are simply too unfathomable to comprehend. A young woman struggles to help her sister who has found herself in the centre of an impossible fight. How can you battle demons and men at the same time without losing a piece of yourself in the process? This is the reality Lucy is facing in a novel that is the epitome of the word ‘unforgettable’.

I really, really do NOT have the words to describe my reactions as a chapter finished and another started. We are talking about moments that surpass the definitions ‘Dark’ and ‘Gothic’ and ‘Haunting’ and so on and so forth. What we have here is a novel that belongs to the Gothic genre but with a story that centres around female identity, oppression, loyalty and independence. The hunger for blood can be read as hunger for a life that is not dictated by marital and societal rules but by the familial bonds and the interests that cultivate our personality. The characters are deeply flawed - even Lucy, our amazing main character - but the way the narrative has been constructed makes you deeply interested in their fate. They will anger, shock, and frustrate you, but it will be impossible for the reader not to devour the chapters with a pounding heart.

Point one: If you are squeamish about blood, tread carefully. I am the most stone-hearted creature on the planet when it comes to gore and grim but even I had to avert my eyes from the page in certain parts.

Point two: ‘Female rage’ - and I have no idea why this absurd term was coined and why it should be considered a new literary genre - is for idiots. Labels are for idiots. Good stories are good stories that need to be told. Woke terms are for political agendas.

Yeah, not interested.

‘’By now, the sun had thoroughly set, but she had the light of the stars and moon to guide her. It was a thin pale light, painting everything around her in hues of gray and blue. Thin tendrils of mist crept from the earth and nipped at her ankles. It was said that they heralded the arrival of the witte wieven, white women who came out at night from the burial mounds that were everywhere on the Dutch heath, hungry for gold, hungry for souls. They were the restless ghosts of witches, or fairies wishing to lure people off the straight and narrow, or perhaps something else altogether.
They could be the ghosts of those unfortunates who have drowned in the bog.’’

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy receives a series of increasingly alarming letters from her twin sister, Sarah, who seems obsessed with the mummified corpse found in the bog on her manor’s grounds. At Sarah’s husband’s request, Lucy arrives at the manor, only to find Sarah horribly changed, emaciated and raving about a “Marianne” who is “in her head.” Then an unthinkable, horrendous event happens… Terrified for her sister’s life and sanity, Lucy will try everything to protect her from harm, particularly from being sent to a lunatic asylum, which is a fate both sisters deem worse than death.

I’ve always thought I wasn’t fond of historical fiction, but as it turns out, historical horror might just be an exception! I really liked this book. It has so many elements that I love in my reads: letters, found journals, a dig, puzzled scientists, a cursed find – as there is no doubt there is something very wrong with the bog body. The novel also has an eerie and claustrophobic mood, in which the house plays a big part, as it is an old, leaky mansion sprawling across a partially drained bog.

However, the book’s strength are the characters and the multi-faceted horrors they are subjected to. I loved how the bond between the sisters was presented, as well as the slow unveiling of Sarah’s husband’s personality. The horror in the novel has many sources: there’s both psychological and supernatural terror, as well as body horror and gore. There is also a commentary on the condition of a female in the late-19th-century society, which in itself is terrifying.

The reason this was not 5 stars for me was the tone – it felt very uneven, with some sudden, awkward shifts, especially in parts with Lucy’s employer and with the family doctor. I would still recommend this book for those who love a Gothic horror of the “good for her” variety, with an added sapphic rep.

4.5 stars for me! I went into this book somewhat blind — thank you NetGalley for the E-Arc. I tend to request sapphic and thriller books and this combined the two right in my wheelhouse. I was never bored reading this, I was absolutely sucked in from page 1 completely to the end. I love that the author leaned into the crazy during the plot. It didn’t feel like the readers had to know if the main characters are potentially experiencing this supernatural thing or if it was in their heads for me to 100% root for them. These characters have flaws, but they were so relatable and tangible. Trigger warning the book is completely gory but in a way that felt somewhat necessary. I love the exploration of the very human question “how far would I go for my sister?”